Daughters of Heaven
March 27, 2008
By Jennie Webb, Backstage West
The S-word -- showcase -- sometimes gets a bad rap. A lot of times we're right to roll our eyes and whisper it to each other when we suffer through actor-producers or writer-producers -- or even more painful a prospect, actor-writer-director-producers -- subjecting us to misguided vanity productions. Okay, snotty but still right. Only, what actor -- or writer, or director even -- wants to wait around forever for someone else to recognize his or her talent? And when the actor is very talented and picks a project that, well, showcases that, it's worth a closer look.

Young actors Amanda Jones and Brittania Nicol are the impressive talents that have joined forces to mount Daughters of Heaven, Michaelanne Forster's 1991 play about the real-life New Zealand schoolgirl murderers who were the subject of Peter Jackson's film Heavenly Creatures. And in this overwrought but often fabulously melodramatic play, directed by Judith Bohannon, Jones and Nicol are indeed heavenly and spot-on as two disturbingly close friends from different worlds who, together, create their own fantasy life, in which killing a clueless mother -- "the obstacle" to their happily ever after -- is perfectly justifiable. Also giving sterling performances are Brenda Beck and Elizabeth Southard as brilliantly contrasting mothers, and Bennett Liss and Chris DeChristopher as concerned fathers, each impotent for his own reasons. Forster's play relies heavily on post-crime courtroom exposition, and Daniel Jeary handles this well as the prosecuting attorney.

The wonderful Kerry McGrath plays Bridget O'Malley, who serves as the evening's narrator of sorts: a Bible-thumping housekeeper way wary of those "disgustingly clever" girls and their perverted activities. This narration helps set the B-movie tone of the play, and Bohannon's smart staging keeps Bridget's eyes everywhere as the extended plot devolves into delightful histrionics. However, it has a hard time recovering. So although the actors do their jobs admirably (a mention also to Jeff Steinkamp, Lindsay Heston, Marty Fortney, and Matt Mowat in smaller roles) and we get to look at smashing costumes by Randy Pool, the production loses steam and doesn't always reach the dramatic extremes it calls out for. But those terrific "murderous" teens aren't bad at all.

LA WEEKLY
March 31, 2008
THEATER PICK  DAUGHTERS OF HEAVEN
Michaelanne Forster’s play, which is receiving its U.S. premiere here, studies two adolescents who committed a crime that shocked New Zealand in the 1950s. (The play’s subject was also recounted in Peter Jackson’s 1994 film, Heavenly Creatures.) Pauline Parker (Amanda Jones) and Juliet Hulme (Brittania Nicol) are a pair of madly romantic souls who cling to one another in a time of stifling conformity. Besides completing each other’s sentences, they write novels and poems together, listen to Mario Lanza records, and inhabit a pagan fantasy world in which they reign as goddesses. That is, until they murder Pauline’s mother (Brenda Beck) and are put on trial for the act. The play is half-narrated by Bridget O’Malley (Kerry McGrath), a housekeeper for Juliet’s middle-class parents, and her tone echoes the period’s rigid morality (especially against the girls’ platonic lesbianism) while providing a common-sense foil for both the “educated” hypocrisy of Juliet’s parents and the girls’ breathtakingly delusional behavior. Director Judith Bohannon and an extremely committed ensemble grace this tale with a poetic sadness that makes the show a memorable evening, even though the small stage at times seems built for a dollhouse. Jones, in particular, is a talent to watch, and the intensity of her Pauline is almost frightening. Randy Pool’s outstanding costuming authentically re-creates the 1950s, although one actor inexplicably sports the kind of hippie hair that probably would’ve gotten his character at the time arrested quicker than the girls. Alexia Robinson Studios, 2811 W. Magnolia Blvd., Burbank; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; thru April 26. (818) 842-4755. A BrittaniaJones Production. (Steven Mikulan)