First produced in 1953, Tennessee Williams's Dali-like, surrealistic play was a daring choice for artistic director Bonnie J. Monte and company, as well as a challenge to the audience. However, for serious theatergoers, the play was fascinating—a wild, metaphor-filled world in an unnamed South-American country populated by fictional and historical personages such as Don Quixote, Casanova, Marguerite de la Camillias, Lord Byron and Esmeralda, all under the control of the ominous Gutman, who announced each block or segment of the Camino Real. All live in fear of the dreaded Streetcleaners, who pick up and dispose of the bodies as they fall. It is a world in which romance and delusion meet harsh reality, cruelty and tyranny.
Into this world of poetic allegory stumbles Kilroy, the optimistic and innocent American whose heart is the size of a baby's head and who wears his gold gloves around his neck. Monte gave just the right amount of structure to the wild and seemingly unrestricted proceedings on stage, assisted by a fabulous set of a tropical courtyard by Harry Feiner. The cast was simply superb. Mark Elliot Wilson's Casanova was heartbreaking. Pamela J. Gray's Marguerite made the audience cry, and Malcolm Tulip was a passionate and convincing Bryon. As Kilroy, Paul Molner was very much the innocent American but not a fool, even though he was forced to wear a clown costume. Veteran Tom Brennan was perfect as the villainous Gutman. With Williams's lyric language and a top-scale production, Camino Real was a treat.
