 "Photo: Courtesy of Kennedy Theater")
 "Photo: Courtesy of Kennedy Theater")
Tomorrow, theater-goers will once again create lively buzz and chatter at the doors of Kennedy Theatre. This time, the Main Stage attraction will be Harold Pinter’s “The Homecoming.”
“Sex is involved – people are very excited about that,” said director Glenn Cannon, professor of theater at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.
After teaching for 42 years, Cannon knows what draws crowds.
But if sex were the only attraction in “The Homecoming,” it might not have helped Pinter win the 2005 Nobel Prize in Literature or the 1967 Tony Award for Best Play shortly after its debut.
“The play has to do with power – in a particular instance, power struggles within a family of a father (and) three sons,” said Cannon, the longest-serving Kennedy Theatre director. “And into this comes a very attractive woman who is the wife of one of the sons.”
The unfolding of these power struggles creates a tale of how one-upmanship and teasing can make – or break – families.
How Pinter would have liked the play to unravel is an impossible question for Cannon to ask; the playwright died in December 2008. But, Cannon said, he aims to stay true to Pinter’s plot.
“A director brings, to all plays, something of his own point of view,” Cannon said, “(but) I’m as respectful to Pinter as one can be in what the play is for and how it works.”
Jillian Blakkan-Strauss, a first-year M.F.A. student in Western acting, plays Ruth, the wife of one of the three sons. Although some of the sex scenes are “steamy,” she said that the cast handled it well.
“It could be very awkward depending on whom you’re working with, but (the guys) are great,” Blakkan-Strauss said. “It’s been such a fun process where we’ll crack jokes all the time.”
Despite the playfulness of the cast, Blakkan-Strauss gets down to business while trying to portray her controversial character.
“You read the play the first time, and you’re like, ‘Who is this woman?’ She’s enigmatic. You don’t understand her actions,” Blakkan-Strauss said. “For me, it’s very important as an actor not to judge the character I’m going to play; otherwise I wouldn’t be able to portray that character truthfully.”
Even with this truthful portrayal, however, it’s difficult to not gain some sort of ill will from the audience. Blakkan-Strauss describes Ruth as a homewrecker and said that Ruth’s actions are “pertinent to society.”
“As weird as this play is,” Blakkan-Strauss said, “people catch elements of their own lives … and that resonates.”
Blakkan-Strauss said the performance might leave the crowd confused, but at least they will be contemplating.
“Pinter doesn’t tell you what to think, which is great,” Blakkan-Strauss said. “I feel you can walk away from this play, and you might be thinking, ‘What the heck?’ But you’re thinking about stuff, and that’s valuable.”
The reception of actors, crew and director from each side of the theater dynamic has been positive. Cannon said working on the play “was very enjoyable – it still is – because of the commitment of the cast.”
“They’re ... working fully at every rehearsal,” he said. “That doesn’t always happen at the university level, and even professionally as well.”
Blakkan-Strauss said the cast has similar sentiments towards their director.
“We all really want to do a good job for the play, for Pinter, for the department, for Glenn,” Blakkan-Strauss said. “He’s just a joy to work with. We love it when something clicks and he’s like, ‘Yeah, that’s it. Keep it!’ with his growly voice.”
“The Homecoming”
Kennedy Theatre
1770 East-West Rd.
Nov. 13, 14, 20 and 21 at 8 p.m.
Nov. 22 at 2 p.m.
$20 regular; $18 seniors, military, UH faculty/staff
$12 students; $5 UHM students with ID
hawaii.edu/kennedy
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