Most of what many 21st Century Americans know of World War II are the stories of our parents and grandparents and the myriad of movies about that time. With the exception of Pearl Harbor, the war was fought on other shores, and England bore the brunt of Nazi ire. England had air raids, the need for bomb shelters and that bombing, rationing, whirlwind romance with the sense that Death was always reaching for someone you loved was swirling in the air. This is the time we enter in C.P. Taylor’s And A Nightingale Sang, in production now at Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey.
Artistic Director Bonnie Monte is making the most of her final season at STNJ, and her direction is spot-on in this realistic view of the drama of the time. It can be easy to forget that in the early part of the 20th century, not everyone had access to healthcare, surgery or the modern miracles we take for granted today. Our guide and narrator of this time is Helen Stott (Monica McGrath) who is the eldest of the Stott family and the most rational. She is a tall, practical woman with a bit of a limp who is often socially overshadowed by her winsome pixie-like sister Joyce (Sarah Deaver) who has all the luck in love. During this time, multiple generations lived under one roof and in addition to Peggy and George, Helen’s parents portrayed by company favorites Marion Adler and John Little, and her sister Joyce is her mother’s father Andie (Sam Tsoutsouvas) who is with Peggy for a while then moves to his daughter Margaret on a rotating schedule. We enter the action in 1939 when Joyce is on the horns of a dilemma – does she accept the suit of her boyfriend Eric (Christian Frost) who is about to go to war or does she tell him “no”. The appetite for romance is sharpened by the threat of war, she grudgingly says “Yes” and the action begins.
Joyce becomes part of the war effort, George works to keep his family’s spirits up by learning and playing wartime favorites on the family piano and through it all Helen does her best to keep them all on track. Then Eric brings home his buddy Norman (Benjamin Eakeley) and Helen meets her unexpected lover.
Nostalgic look-backs would have us believe that everyone always behaved with propriety. Yet people are people no matter the era, and Helen is fully in control of her head and her heart. She’s in her 30s, not married – so an “old maid” in her time. Yet she is the one in the family with the clearest vision – though since she is the narrator, it would seem so anyway. Helen has the top-level view, in all ways, unsullied by the million details. She’s aware of those too, but doesn’t get lost in them. McGrath does a brilliant job in showing how an underestimated woman is the backbone of a family and the unsung hero of them all.
This play closes July 30, so get tickets now at www.ShakespeareNJ.org.