|
All about Bette Davis
Me and Jezebel, a play about the star's stay at a writer's home, has a twist: Bette is played by a male actor.
By ROBERT HICKS
© St. Petersburg Times
published September 19, 2002
Elizabeth Fuller's Me and Jezebel began as a novel, morphed into a one-woman show and ultimately became a two-character play about the Connecticut playwright's relationship with actor Bette Davis. It opened in 1994, floundered as an off-Broadway production and found new life in Florida.
"I love playing the role of a very strong movie star icon," said actor Blake Walton, 50, from his home in Sarasota. He and Sheri Cox reprise their roles as Davis and Fuller beginning Friday at the Central Stage Theatre in St. Petersburg.
Walton also has done the role locally at Theatre Works in Sarasota and Angel Cabaret Theatre in New Port Richey.
"I approach it like I do any other role," he said. "I find the heart of the character and something I can really relate to about the person. It doesn't matter that she's female."
He doesn't regard the role as drag, though he says the portrayal has an element of female impersonation. But the main focus is on character. His preparation is essential to his understanding of Davis.
"During rehearsals, I add clothing, which tells the body that you're supposed to walk in a certain way and tells the mind that you're supposed to be a certain character," Walton says. "I work both inside and outside to get the look and the feeling. I have to convince myself. If I don't believe it, then nobody is going to. If I do believe in it, it's a magical transformation and other people believe what I'm doing."
Me and Jezebel is based on a true story. Davis lived at the Ritz Hotel in New York, but because of a 1985 hotel union workers strike, she stayed at Fuller's Connecticut home.
The play moves from humor to pathos. For all of Davis' caustic, domineering persona, she had a vulnerable, honest side.
"Bette's heart is her passion mostly for her grandchildren," Walton said. "She made a choice early on in her life to be a movie star, which meant she had to work on that at every level. There's a truthfulness to her. She says what's on her mind. I admire that in her. She's direct, and it can be biting and hurtful, but the fact is, she's honest."
There's a dark side to Davis, too, revealed in her juicy stories about daughter B.D. Hyman's hurtful book, My Mother's Keeper, and about her torrid relationship with her rival Joan Crawford.
Along the way, one can't help but be amused by Fuller's star-struck feelings toward her guest and by her husband, John's, annoyance at this unwanted visitor. To top it off, the Fullers' young son, Christopher, mimics Davis' cursing and haughtiness. (Though father and son don't appear onstage, Cox gives them a voice.) The Fullers' life and marriage almost go to shambles, yet all the disruption goes unnoticed by the self-absorbed Davis.
* * *
PREVIEW: Me and Jezebel opens Friday and continues through Oct. 13, Central Stage, 2235 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 3 p.m. Sun. $18. (727) 327-7529.
Back to Weekend
© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111
|
