The Graduate
Where: Langham Court Theatre
When: To March 22
Rating: 2 1/2 stars (out of five)
The Graduate was a great film. The stage adaptation … not so much.
Langham Court Theatre has revived dramatist Terry Johnson’s oddly goofy play, based on the excellent 1967 motion picture by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham and Charles Webb’s original novel.
First, let’s consider the positives. During Thursday night’s performance, an enthusiastic Langham Court audience laughed often. Adam Wilkinson has created a clever set: a simple but elegant off-white room serving as a perfect backdrop for a myriad of projections, depicting everything from cityscapes to nightclubs. This design is highly successful and unusually sophisticated for community theatre.
Another plus: each cast member has good moments. Christopher Harris, playing Mr. Robinson, had an especially convincing scene as he berated Benjamin (Montgomery Bjornson) for having an affair with his wife. Odile Nelson seemed initially stiff as Mrs. Robinson, overdoing the mid-Atlantic accent as an upper-middle-class American. However, this improved as the performance continued — it’s obvious Nelson has insight into her character.
As Benjamin, Bjornson’s portrayal was more serviceable than inspired. I suspect it’s not his fault. Johnson has recast the character (played by Dustin Hoffman with admirable depth and complexity in the film) as a two-dimensional oddball. Whereas Hoffman presented an alienated young man caught in an existential crisis, Johnson’s Benjamin is a paper cut-out. Rather than angst-ridden, the character seems peevish and continually annoyed (which is in itself annoying).
Directed by Judy Treloar, this community theatre cast — which includes Keeley Teuber as Elaine — has obviously worked hard, despite the wobbly script.
Whether you care for Johnson’s adaptation may be a matter of taste. It should be pointed out his play was a hit in New York and London and won an award as best touring Broadway play.
Although it tips its hat to the movie’s serious themes (youthful alienation, hypocrisy), Johnson has decided that The Graduate is a farce. Thus, in classic farce fashion, Mrs. Robinson hides in a bathroom when her husband enters during her first seductive overtures to Benjamin.
I’ve never read Webb’s novel, so cannot say what non-movie elements in the stage version come from the novelist or the dramatist. But there are many curious and ill-conceived differences. For instance, upon learning her mom has slept with her boyfriend, Elaine, and Mrs. Robinson, decide to have a jolly booze-up, like a couple of good-time gals on a bender. Johnson, attempting levity, has Mrs. Robinson advising her daughter to vomit on her skirt rather than the carpet.
There are many differences between film and play. Most of these additions are appallingly amateurish. In the movie, there’s a scene in which Benjamin takes Elaine to a strip club for a first date. Appalled, she bursts into tears. In the play, Elaine overcomes her initial unhappiness and makes friends with an exotic dancer, declaring she has “beautiful breasts,” which seems unlikely and borderline nonsensical.
Michelle Mitchell’s performance as the stripper, requiring opposite-direction propelling of her nipple tassels, was the most entertaining portion of the show.
Certainly, it’s risqué stuff for Langham Court Theatre, perhaps proving once and for all the company has shuffled off any vestiges of stuffy conservatism.