Once you Start Playing Nuns It's all Downhill

A few weeks ago I read with great interest that Kathleen Turner was going to appear at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis in new play that was hopefully Broadway bound. And even though the premise of the play left me less than excited I couldn't help ordering a couple of tickets. It isn't often  a show makes it way to St. Louis before it gets to New York. The last time I got the opportunity to do this was for the musical Jeckyll and Hyde and I think we all know what a mess that turned out to be.


The play was called High by Matthew Lombardo. Turner plays Sister Jamie, a foul mouthed, recovering alcoholic nun who is asked to counsel a drug addicted male prostitute named Cody. Yawn......I'm sorry but I have never found substance abuse very interesting. Still I went.

Maybe it was the one word title or the nun thing but somehow this sounded like a Doubt wannabe.There are only three characters and the remaining one is a priest. Another similarity to Doubt I suppose. But there are always priests lurking around when nuns are involved aren't there?

It turns out the play has little of the interest that Doubt provided and more of the troubles of a more recent play I attended, A Steady Rain with Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig.

In A Steady Rain Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig told the story through  a series of monologues, breaking into actual scenes only occasionally.

In High there are more scenes between Turner and her costars than in  A Steady Rain and Turner has them all. The trouble with the play turns out to be that the most interesting story is Cody's, the young drug addict but perhaps because the play was written in hopes that Kathleen Turner would star we get more of her story. We don't see it mind you. She just tells it in a series of expertly delivered monologues.

Towards the end of Act II Evan Jonigkeit as Cody delivers a powerful performance when he has relapsed, back on heroine. He is broken and cries repeatedly, "I'm still here and I don't want to be," The scene is riveting.

As that scene blacks out, Katherine Turner steps forward to deliver her last monologue of the evening leaving the actor playing Cody, who has just collapsed into an emotional heap on the floor to clear his own props before he makes his exit. I thought to myself,  "as an actor how many times have I been asked to do something similar?" I can't say I have had to do it following a scene as dramatic as this but what a shame that this actor has to grab his own costume and a milk crate before he heads off stage. It really broke the illusion for me. I know I am not supposed to be watching the stuff that happens in the dark but as an actor I can't help myself.

But it's not nearly as disappointing as the final monologue in which Sister Jamie tells us how the story ends. This isn't one of those monologues where we get an insight into her character. She just tells us how the story ends. What? You're just going to tell me how it ends?

It's like going to Romeo and Juliet and having someone come down stage at the end of the show and say, "So they went to the sepulchre and killed themselves." This is a play! Dont' tell me what happened. You have to show me! I'm not that deep.