Eric Johanson ©2025 Michael Gabriel Goodfriend and Hollis McCarthy
Autumn in 1920s England. An intricate bond between two fragile artists. A mysterious visitor that further stirs the pot. A recipe for an explosive new drama“ If only there were more explosions. Rather, Eternal Equinox felt like eternal chatter, without enough specific moments to leave a lasting impression.
Based on a true story, Joyce Hokin Sach’s play opens at the summer home of Vanessa Bell (Hollis McCarthy) and Duncan Grant (Michael Gabriel Goodfriend). Bell and Grant were part of a real-life group of artists ranging from Virginia Woolf to E.M. Forster. They also, apparently, had an intensely confusing relationship. In the first moments of the play, we learn that they share a child together, that he is a homosexual and that he used to love her brother. On paper, this is a juicy soap opera. The actors, however, are forced to divulge all of this information in a contrived fashion as the script demands. The first half hour is too theatrical, opting for overlong exposition over solid character development. McCarthy and Goodfriend are in their own worlds talking and talking and talking about the past and the future, and the audience is left to wonder: Who are these people to each other? What do they want from each other right here and right now? McCarthy’s affected reading of an already melodramatic line like "I feel as though I’ve failed in every way" and Goodfriend’s put-on character laugh only add to the artifice.
But then! “God has descended,” says Duncan upon the entrance of our third and final character. I couldn’t agree more. Some dramatic tension finally appears in the form of George Mallory the mountaineer, played by Christian Pedersen. Pedersen (very attractive) provides a youthful, playful charm that is seductive and alluring. He is a striking contrast to his scene partners, who have thus far painted broad one-dimensional strokes of ‘Eccentric Artist’ and ‘Wounded Lover.’ The script also tightens upon Mallory’s entrance: he’s visiting because he wants Duncan to photograph his next Everest climb. It’s clear, though, that both Duncan and Vanessa have an emotional attachment to Mallory. Who. Will. Win?
Eric Johanson ©2025 Michael Gabriel Goodfriend and Hollis McCarthy and Christian Pedersen
It’s a long road until we are provided that answer, as the conflict builds rather poorly in Act II. Too much of the characters’ pain is on-the-table as opposed to brewing underneath the surface. There are too many excessive glares from Duncan to Vanessa and Vanessa to Duncan -- looks that tell the audience "Hey! There’s tension here! In case you didn’t know!’ Act II also features a bevy of lengthy monologues that took me out of the play instead of drawing me further in. In one monologue, Vanessa describes the special love she shares with Duncan… but how can we the audience care about this love? We never saw it.
Kevin Cochran’s direction is solid but sometimes too sharp for its own good. Lines flew in one by one by one by one, with minimal overlaps or beats. It all felt too clean, too stagy to be authentic conversation. Additionally, a scene in which Vanessa catches the two men lock lips should have ignited more sparks. Instead it came and went, without consequence. There was, however, a lovely moment in which Goodfriend despondently watches McCarthy and Pedersen share a brief dance while gazing at the moonlight. This was an effective use of silence and I grasped, for the first time, Duncan’s complicated struggle to sort out the mess that is his love life… simply by watching his eyes watch this dance.
While McCarthy dishes out more of what we’ve already seen, Goodfriend displays a clear change in Duncan’s demeanor during the play’s final scene. He brings a reflective, understated energy that shows a man who’s gone through something difficult but who’s ready to move forward the only way he knows how. But because I never got the full scope of Vanessa and Duncan's relationship, I wanted these two characters to go their separate ways and find other men who could really make them happy.
Perhaps this love triangle was edgy in 1920s England but unfortunately, like certain scenes it featured, Eternal Equinox came and went without much relevance to America 2012.
The set design by Leonard Ogden is gorgeous, particularly a bed that slides open. The costumes by Tracy Christensen enhanced the production’s 1920s aesthetic.
Eternal Equinox runs until Mach 31, 2012.
