‘Rosemary and I’

Leslie Ayvazian’s play receives its New Jersey premiere at Passage Theatre.

By: Stuart Duncan

"image"
Judith Anna Roberts plays Rosemary and Hal Robinson is her husband in


‘Rosemary and I’ at Passage Theatre’s Mill Hill Playhouse.


   Rosemary and I, receiving its New Jersey premiere at Trenton’s Passage Theatre, is a charming but minor playlet. It is not yet fully developed but directed so beautifully (by Blair Brown) and acted with such joy that one may be tempted to overpraise it.
   The 75-minute piece apparently began as an item in a grandmother’s diary, found in an attic trunk. Playwright Leslie Ayvazian originally conceived of it as a monologue, and then, over four years, expanded it as it sent out tentacles of its own. The Rosemary of the title is the grandmother, once a fine singer, with a repertory of 31 ballads, her voice now fading. The I is, apparently, the playwright’s mother, here named Julia, who acts as a sort of narrator. Also included in the four-character evening is the grandfather, a well-meaning but fumbling figure, and Rosemary’s long-time accompanist, Elizabeth.
   The story is slight and involves what may have been a long-ago momentary flash of loneliness between Rosemary and Elizabeth. If it were not so well acted and directed with such exquisite taste, it might well be distasteful, or worse, insignificant. But Judith Anna Roberts as Rosemary and Susan Blommaert as Elizabeth play the scenes with such restraint that they might be unraveling a British mystery.
   Playwright Ayvazian plays Julia, the narrator, and begins the evening as if we might be witnessing a comedy — a series of false starts to the story, searching for the proper beginning, each time breaking off the approach as a new thought arrives. It may be cute, but it suggests manipulation and eventually becomes a bit repetitious. It also tends to diminish the actual story as it begins to unfold. She admits that she had trouble coming up with a title for the piece and finally gave it a permanent title after hearing actress Rosemary Harris in a reading.
   Fully developed or not, Rosemary and I is a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn international playwriting prize which is given each year to a woman who deserves recognition for having written a work of outstanding quality for the English-speaking theater.
Rosemary and I continues at Mill Hill Playhouse, Front and Montgomery streets, Trenton, through Feb. 27. Performances: Thurs.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 5 p.m. Tickets cost $28. For information, call (609) 392-0766. On the Web: www.passagetheatre.org