THOMAS PUTNAM in UNDERNEATH THE LINTEL by Barbara Biddison

THOMAS PUTNAM in UNDERNEATH THE LINTEL by Barbara Biddison

​I've held a script in the early stages of rehearsal, and then I've listened to the memorized words in performance, and I've never grown tired of the Librarian's story.  It is beautifully written and
masterfully acted.  The audiences were also held spellbound as far as I could tell as I sat amongst them. That's about 80 minutes of running time with no break for the actor nor for the audience. The actor carries it, with believable conversational storytelling.

It's a simple set with a large moveable green chalkboard (well-used), and a desk with speaker stand and papers here and there, and a screen off stage right to occasionally illustrate what the Librarian is referring to in the story he tells. The set also allows the actor to move to a different "place" where the owner tells a man with a cross to do his resting somewhere else... Quick change there.

Putnam tells this story with such grace and involvement. Audiences have enough before them to believe the ongoing words, "Still, we'll proceed."  And proceed we do. The story, for me, is clearly a message of how a human being can "move on" and find joy in all kinds of human
challenges.

I guess I should end with a language challenge encountered by those who would write about this show and confuse two words: Being underneath a lentil gives the image of being under an edible brownish seed, before or after it is cooked. The play title deals with being under a lintel, which is a horizontal support across the top of a door. The play program and poster clearly illustrate this image. I am not clear about what would be the image for being under a lentil.
It makes me smile.