The Dreaming Dust

In Dennis Johnston's The dreaming Dust, the Poets' Theatre has an imaginative and often appealing play. A re-creation of significant events in the life of Jonathan swift (as seen through the eyes of seven different observers) the play effectively straddles the boundaries of time. Each performer alternates between the role of a detached observer in the present and an important force in Swift's own past. Mr. Johnston handles his theme well, and The Dreaming dust has a quality of both intimacy and unreality, which makes it particularly well-suited to the small stage of the poets' theatre.

Central to the play, of course, is the character of Swift himself. In a series of flashbacks, his friends in turn recall his malevolence from seven points of view the seven deadly sins. In each kaleidoscopic event, they are searching for the one clue that will explain his cal nature. At the same time, however, the play is more than a search for the last place in a jig-saw puzzle. Johnson has much to say about the tendency of every man to see in others his own greatest flaw; about the difficulty of re-creating the image of a man from a variety of half-true impressions. Each narrator, whether friend or lover, sees only part of Swift, and even the whole account seems not enough for a true picture. Johnston ends his play with Swift Brushing away the fools and declaring, "I am that I am."

The play is so contracted as to allow for simple acts, and scene transitions which can be worked out mainly by lighting techniques. For the most part, the Poet's Theatre handles these effects well. Director Edward Thommen is especially successful in the first two acts, arranging his stage so that the relationships between each member of the cast may be carried out with dramatic effect. The third act, however, is a distinct disappointment, for which both the writer and the performers may share some of the blame. Johnston shifts from the more intimate episodes of the earlier acts to a series of short, emotional scenes underscored with a background of rolling thunder. Not only are these effects too grandiose for the size of the theatre, but the play nearly degenerates into a series of disjointed tableaus which lend little to its meaning.

Though several performers are unequal to the intensity required by the final act, for the most part the actors handle their dual roles with case. Unfortunately, the weakest member is Swift himself, played by William Morris Hunt. His role demands a constantly shifting personality (since swift was a different being to each of his associates) but at the same time as underlying continuity. Hunt supplies only the later, combining a tendency to talk too fast with tedious, satiric inflections of his voice.

The two feminine leads, played by Bronia Sielewicz and Leslie Cass, seem considerably more at case on the stage. As rivals for swift's as Vanessa, is the emotional woman, quite ready to display her feelings; Miss Siclewicz, as Stella, creates the picture of the persecuted wife, quite proud of her own suffering. Other members of the cast could be singled out for varying degrees of competency. Catherine Huntington, for instance, contributes a fine monologue in the last act, as she reads to an insane Doctor swift. And Edward Finnegan is suitably foolish as the pompous Dr. Berkley.

In general, where Dennis Johnston has supplied good drama, the Poet's Theatre is able to respond with its own talent and enthusiasm. The Dreaming Dust, as a result, is a worthwhile, if not flawless, production.