“Hurricane Diane” – Written by Madeleine George. Directed by Jenny Koons. Presented by the Huntington Theatre Company at the Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts, through September 26th.
by Michele Markarian
“I have returned and it begins”, is the first line uttered in Madeleine George’s play “Hurricane Diane” by the character of Dionysius (Rami Margron). A cheer erupted from the masked, packed house at the Calderwood, where live theater has returned after a nearly 550 day absence. Dionysius has been hiding out as Diane, and living on a lesbian separatist community of sustainability outside of Burlington, Vermont. Dionysius has returned because he knows we’ve been doing bad things to the environment. Seeking a quorum of four women, he disguises himself as Diane, a landscaper, to seduce housewives from a suburban cul-de-sac of New Jersey in the hopes that they’ll embrace permaculture and restore the earth to its former wilderness.
New Jersey houses a tough crowd, one that cares more about what the neighbors think than sustainability. Carol Fleischer (Esme Allen), a devotee of HGTV Magazine, has definite ideas about how she would like her landscaped yard to look, and doesn’t feel confident that Diane will fulfill her desires. Beth Wann (Marianna Bassham) neglects her lawn, not mowing it for months after her husband left her. Renee Shapiro (Kris Sidberry) is an editor at HGTV magazine, and actually knows a thing or two about permaculture. Pam Annunziata (Jennifer Bubriski) is the happiest; she has organized her life around her husband and kids, and considers the other women “family”. Diane aggressively works her way into the bedrooms of the women, with one belligerent holdout.
“Hurricane Diane” has some very funny moments, made more so by the truly talented cast. Margron is utterly charming as both Dionysius and Diane. They move gracefully and is a master of the art of active listening. Allen is scarily believable as Carol, the woman whose life may be quietly falling apart as she tries, with clenched teeth, to hold it together. Bassham is terrific as the melancholy, tragi-comic Beth, and Sidberry is strong as the competent and earthy Renee. Bubriski brings heart and hilarity to Pam. Director Koons keeps the pace brisk, with Stephanie Osin Cohen’s minimalist set perfectly depicting the emptiness, grandeur and conformity of suburban life. Hahnji Jang’s costumes epitomize what money can buy; I wanted to own and wear all of them.
The play is not without its problems. While I get the nod to the Bacchae, I couldn’t quite wrap my head around Dionysius actually coming back to champion the environment. Sure, permaculture is loose, flowing and natural, but would he really care? And the way Diane pursues the women is nothing short of predatory, a problem my male companion who’s trying to navigate the dating world found particularly troubling. Although the men are all absent from the action, they’re pretty selfish, with Renee’s husband seemingly the exception. I didn’t understand the implication that only lesbians are capable of caring about the environment – maybe this is a joke? (This is what happens, readers, when literal people like myself go to the theater.)
The final confrontation between Diane and Carol bristles with intensity and brings all of the comedy into sharp focus: yes, we are at war with ourselves. There are those who consume, and those who conserve. Jen Schriever’s lighting design and Ben Scheff’s sound design create a harrowing effect in the final scene that will linger long after the show ends. For tickets and information, go to: https://www.huntingtontheatre.org/season/2021-2022/hurricane-diane/
