3391
(1 vote, average 5.00 out of 5)
Written by Michael Muckian
Jul 28, 2011
Angela Iannone as Katherine Hepburn in “Tea at Five.” – Photo: In Tandem Theatre
Angela Iannone wants to make it perfectly clear that screen legend Katherine Hepburn, whom she plays in the In Tandem Theatre Co.’s upcoming production of “Tea at Five,” is not a celebrity in the modern sense. And the Milwaukee actor is strident in her opinion.
“Kate Hepburn is an authentic artist,” Iannone says. “She was celebrated for her unique and brilliant artistry, but isn’t one of those strange people famous only for being famous.”
Legendary might be a better word.
Playwright Matthew Lombardo’s 2002 one-woman show is based on Hepburn’s autobiography “Me: Stories of My Life.” The play tells Hepburn’s story in a monologue form, in two acts that occur at different points in Hepburn’s career. But both take place at the actor’s estate in the Fenwick section of Old Saybrook, Conn.
Act 1, set in 1938, introduces the young Oscar-winner facing an industry that has just labeled her “box office poison,” causing the actress to contemplate her childhood and her start in show business. Act 2, set in 1983, shows us an elderly Hepburn, recovering from a recent car crash, reflecting on her artistic triumphs and her heartbreaking romance with actor Spencer Tracy.
“Kate Hepburn is a fascinating person both for herself and the time in which she lived,” says Iannone, who’s reprising the role that she first undertook with In Tandem’s 2009 production of the same play. “There is no difference in the Hepburn we admire from film or stage and who she was as a person.”
In Iannone’s mind, Hepburn was an individualistic, modern and thoroughly “to-the-marrow” an American woman who sometimes confounded audiences and critics with her East Coast patrician air, breathy voice and direct manner. Hepburn, the daughter of a women’s suffragist, won four out of her 12 Oscar nominations for best actress. She appeared with leading men Cary Grant, James Stewart, Laurence Olivier and, of course, Tracy, with whom she had a lifelong love affair.
“She embodies everything we like about ourselves when we speak of being American, and her career was a journey in defining emerging modern femininity and the ideals of individuality, freedom and self-expression,” Iannone says.
The encore performance is not part of In Tandem’s regular season. It presented itself as an opportunity for the company to revisit one of its most successful productions, according to artistic director Chris Flieller, who also directed it.
“We don’t often repeat a show because it’s so difficult to recapture the ephemeral nature of live theater,” says Flieller, who studied with Sanford Robbins’ professional theater training program when it was still housed at the UWM. “In this case, it hasn’t been that long since we did the show, so it was fresh in our collective memories and Angela was eager to do it.”
Both the actor and her director are adamant that playing Hepburn is no more difficult than playing a fictional character. The role as defined by the play, not the actor’s impersonation skills, determines a production’s success or failure.
“I don’t see a greater or lesser challenge directing a character based on a real person as opposed to one who comes from a playwright’s imagination,” Flieller says. “It’s the ultimate goal to bring both to life, allowing the audience to spend time with someone to whom they feel a connection.”
Iannone agrees with her director. “The playwright and audience expect a certain amount of ‘personation’ to be done,” she says. “There are speech cadences, turns of phrase and physical characteristics that the viewing public expects. Those must be honored as part of the person being portrayed.”
When the person is Katherine Hepburn, the expectations and the audience’s pleasure at their fulfillment is that much higher, Iannone says.
