Set design empowers an engaging ‘Agnes’
That “Agnes of God” fully engages the mind comes as no surprise. This drama/thriller, set in a convent, is famous for its debates about faith and miracles – and the very existence of God.
The big surprise in this Actor’s Repertory Theatre production is that it also fully engages the eye. Five blood-red ribbons hang from floor to ceiling against a deep black backdrop, suggesting thin crimson brush strokes, or maybe a graceful stained-glass window, or maybe the tracks from the stigmata. Or maybe … well, the imagination soars.
This absolutely striking abstract design by John Hofland and Sam Schroeder enhances John Pielmeier’s story in concrete ways. The minimalist set consists of low wooden walls, suggesting lines of staggered pews. These symbolize the many layers that Pielmeier exposes as this psychological drama unfolds.
Sister Agnes (Caryn Hoaglund) is a young, naïve nun who has been charged with manslaughter after a dead newborn is found in the wastebasket of her room. A psychiatrist, Dr. Martha Livingstone (Kate Vita), is assigned to interview Agnes. She wants to find out who the father was – and who really killed the baby. The head of the convent, Mother Miriam Ruth (Jane Fellows), wants to find the truth, too – but she also wants to protect what she believes is Agnes’ special, if not miraculous, relationship with God.
What begins as a straightforward debate between the skeptic psychiatrist and the profoundly faith-filled nuns takes surprising turns. Both psychiatrist and Mother Miriam have their own hidden faiths, hidden doubts. Everyone has a secret. Everyone has erected walls. Yet, like the low walls of the set, they neither protect nor conceal.
Director Michael Weaver has a fine ensemble cast, led by Fellows in a riveting performance as the mother superior. She is tough as nails underneath that wimple, her lips set in grim determination against what she believes is Dr. Livingstone’s attempts to break Agnes. Yet Fellows also conveys a deep and wholly admirable compassion.
She does this with complete command of the subtlest inflections of mouth and brow – a nun, after all, must maintain composure – and with her trained, expressive voice.
Vita must match that kind of stage presence: a tall order. She sometimes seemed tentative – she did not, for instance, wield her ever-present cigarette like a lifetime chain-smoker.
Yet Vita has a smoldering intensity and intelligence that carried her performance to a matching level.
Hoaglund has every acting tool needed to play Agnes: A clear angelic soprano as she sings to God; a fresh, open countenance to show her simplicity and faith; and the ability to turn, on a dime, into a snarling, wounded animal. Her scenes of Agnes under hypnosis were raging, chilling and unpredictable.
Those who have seen the Oscar-winning movie know what to expect out of “Agnes of God.” But it has even more dramatic and intellectual power on stage when tackled by an intelligent and creative team of artists.
In other words: Get thee to this nunnery.