"Hilda," written by French novelist Marie Ndiaya and directed by Carey Perloff, begins with the wealthy Mrs. Lemarchand (Ellen Karas) seeking to employ Hilda as a maid through her husband, Frank (Michael Earle). Though the audience never actually meets Hilda, they quickly become aware that she is now the obsession of the very dominating and controlling Mrs. Lemarchand.
Mrs. Lemarchand is a lonely, unsatisfied and annoyed wife. Lemarchand hopes Hilda will help rescue her from her loneliness by becoming her completely subservient doll. When Mrs. Lemarchand realizes that Hilda is not interested in being her friend, she becomes outraged and begins to implement a plan to keep Hilda from her weak husband Frank indefinitely by making her work longer hours at her house. Then one day, she simply refuses to let Hilda go back home.
The dominating employer offers Frank $300 of Hilda's wages up front and, after an accdient he suffers at the lumberyard, it all seems to be in good faith. But when Frank tries to retrieve his wife from work he discovers she will not be allowed to leave until she has repaid the $300.
After a three-month vacation to New York, Mrs. Lemarchand finally agrees to let Hilda return home. However, while Hilda was gone, her sister, Corinne (Brandy Burre), moved in with Frank. Will Hilda get to return to her family? One must see the play to find out.
The play's set is very simplistic, consisting only of an all-white backdrop, a very prominent white staircase in the middle of the set, and a white table with matching chairs. The dark shadows that the light casts against the all-white pieces allude to the dark nature of the play and work well without distracting from the acting.
The costumes were also very simplistic. All the characters wore the same outfit throughout the show, except Frank and Mrs. Lamarchand, who each change once. The costume changes showed that the characters had also changed: Frank no longer loved Hilda and was now trying to move on, and Mrs. Lamarchand hoped to look more like Hilda.
The clothes, the set-up of the state, and the supporting character maintain such simplicity because the main focus of the show is Mrs. Lamarchand. Karas delivered a stellar performance and basically carried the show. She was loud, brash, ignorant, funny and occasionally scary as hell.
However, this focus on Mrs. Lamarchand and Frank causes the play to become very redundant. It seems as though every other scene consists of Frank crying about his wife. And though it's possible the point is to be redundant so the moral of the play hits home, this repetition makes the play a bit boring. This moral shows a clear relationship between power and love. Mrs. Lamarchand dominates Frank and Hilda; however, it's not believable either of them truly love Hilda since they both abandon her in the end.
Also, although the story is supposed to be sad because Hilda is being kept from her family, the show ends up being funny because of the comical undertone of Mrs. Lemarchand's politically incorrect comments. However, the older audience found the play to be much funnier than younger viewers would.
The main thing this show needs is an intermission. Perhaps that would have refreshed the audience long enough to keep them interested in the later part of the play.
