Timeline Theatre Company delivers an elegantly evocative and stylistically sophisticated world premiere of Not Enough Air. Playwright Masha Obelensky creates an expressionistically dramatic fable of sexist double standards, personal conviction and creative drive.
Haunted by the real-life murder trial of Ruth Snyder, writer Sophie Treadwell is inspired to tell the story on stage, rather than cover it as a journalist. The resulting play, Machinal, was hailed as a masterpiece of American expressionist theater. Not Enough Air imagines Treadwell’s creative process by weaving the events of the crime, trial and the playwright’s personal life into a kaleidoscope of brilliantly paces scenes.
Director Nick Bowling compiles an outstanding ensemble and remarkable design team to realize an impressively powerful production. Brian Sidney Bembridge proves that less is more with scenic design that surprisingly allows frenetic movement as well as intimate interaction. Lindsey Pate’s costume design is period perfect, sharp and gorgeous. Andrew Hansen’s sound design and original music is atmospherically excellent and Heather Gilbert’s lighting design is outstanding from the visually stark and spellbinding play-opening scene till lights out at the close.
The cast delivers the script’s full impact with wonderful performances by all. Although there is humor in the material, this is far from a frolic. Rather it is a precisely paced and deliberate calculation of theatrical effect. The ensemble creates rich and compelling characters in a dramatic dance between the actual and the imagined.
Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of Not Enough Air is how the true crime story, of a woman convicted of killing her husband and her subsequent execution, inspired two playwrights, 80 years apart, to examine the story. Neither concluded a black and white verdict of innocence or guilt, but rather restored humanity to a woman who was so stereotypically vilified and tragically marginalized.
Not Enough Air is visually restrained yet lavish, dramatically deliberate yet suggestive, historically grounded yet conceptually constructed. Timeline Theatre creates an exceptionally captivating production of this thought-provoking play.
