Buffalo Rising Online

Dec 6th 2007, 7:27pm By Reed Rankin

"I am not bound to please thee with my answers."
Shylock
The Merchant of Venice

The set of Catherine Eaton's original one-woman show Corsetless focuses on an austere, old-fashioned hospital bed in the center of the stage. Lengths of clothesline stretch upward at steep angles from points on the floor; hanging from these are loose pages torn from books, like nautical flags. What is this place? This is where Olivia lives, or rather is confined, in a fictional world defined by Shakespeare's pen but inspired by Eaton's own experience.

After a year of hard work began to yield professional success in Los Angeles, Eaton's budding film career was interrupted by a phone call from her home in Vermont. "I got a call that my mother had fallen on the ice and broken her ankle in multiple places," she recalls. "My brother was married, and my sister was in college, so the natural choice for someone to go home and help her out would be me. I was perfectly happy to do that and assumed I'd be back in LA in a month or so. A year and a half later, I was still in Vermont."

The classically trained actress, whose film and TV credits include Training Day, Sex and the City, and playing "The Sasha" in a campaign for Stolichnaya Vodka, Eaton became frustrated at her increasing distance from her craft. "I was taking care of her [mother's] school and I was working on a farm, and had no artistic exposure in that time. I'd lost my manager--very quickly, actually--she called and said, 'If you're not on the next flight, you're off the books', basically. Great business woman, though," Eaton laughs.

The circumstances produced an unexpected inspiration. "So one night I came home from working on the farm all day, grubby, and I pulled out one of my Complete Works," she says, explaining that she has several different copies of Shakespeare's canon, "and started tearing it apart, pulling out the pages that had the pieces that I loved the most on them. I don't remember making the conscious decision to do it… I just did it. By morning the room was covered in papers…covered." She reflects on the episode for a moment, speculating that maybe she wanted to be surrounded by the things she loved- Shakespeare's words- or wanted to be reminded of the things she did, or that she just wanted to have those words at her disposal at that point in time, for a purpose she could not yet see clearly.

Taking in the bizarre scene that morning, Eaton's mother was understandably concerned. More than one person has remarked that it sounds like the scene in A Beautiful Mind, in which John Nash's insanity is reinforced when we see the thousands of newspaper clippings painstakingly taped to the walls for some purpose known only to him. "Which it was not unlike, to be honest," says Eaton. "I did make connections between things that were very strange, and I was seeing themes, but they were genuine connections about themes and concepts, and I had a sense by that morning that there was a story in this. So I told my mother not to be concerned, went to the farm and worked the day."

For the next two weeks Eaton worked days, then stayed up into the night tearing all those pieces apart into smaller and smaller fragments. She began to weave these threads into a new tapestry of Shakespearean themes that became the basis for the show: "Language, and whether it can really be a viable form of communication; destruction as a form of creation; when does creative ownership happen; the difference between an artist who originates something, and a collector who collects things and puts them together; madness; social constructs; the individual; love…all those ideas are in there, all the things that Shakespeare writes about," she explains.

Over the following year, she developed the story of her central character into a complete script and enlisted friends and colleagues to help her revise and improve it. "So, it's come a long way since then," she says, acknowledging the contributions of others, "but the character, and her fight- the reason she's doing what she's doing--remain the same."

Sitting in the Andrews Theatre an hour before her next rehearsal, Eaton outlines the plot, or as much as she's willing to divulge. Corsetless tells the story of Olivia, a woman confined to a psychiatric ward. She's been locked up there since the death of her grandfather, who was her sole caretaker. Olivia chooses to speak only in Shakespearean text. Her doctor, who has known her since childhood, had her committed. Olivia wages a linguistic battle against the doctor and the medical team she believes is holding her in isolation, arguing that it's her decision to take on this acquired language, that it's a reasonable choice, that it makes sense and it's her right to do so.

"She's not doing anything that's insane," Eaton says, her passion for the character showing through. "And their argument is that she can't actually live a life this way in society; she can't step outside a social construct that far and still function within it. So that battle is the play. She uses Shakespeare's words to defend her reason for using them, and she also talks about love and lust and dreams. She makes jokes with the audience and sings and does a little puppet show. It's also very fun and playful; she's a very playful character."

Eaton has an extensive theatrical resumé, having performed in dozens of theaters from Minneapolis to New York, from Bar Harbor to London. Why choose Buffalo for the world premiere of her play? "I did The Cobbler here in 2005 and had a wonderful experience," she says. After a reading of Corsetless at Lincoln Center this past spring, she had hoped to take it to an off Broadway opening, but took the advice of colleagues to mount an out-of-town production first.

When ICTC founder Vincent O'Neill called her about playing Josie Hogan in Moon For The Misbegotten, which ran through December 2, she told him her desire to produce Corsetless out of town, and he offered the theatre to her for the couple of weeks after Moon's run. She was thrilled at the opportunity. "The Irish Classical Theatre Company has artistic integrity of a rare caliber," she says. "Every decision I've seen them make is for the right reason. And they've been incredibly generous and supportive."

As if on cue, Producing Director Fortunato Pezzimenti enters the theatre as Eaton praises the company. He can't resist returning the admiration. "Catherine is a wonderful actress," he offers. "She brings such a presence and talent; she's really remarkable."

Eaton's passion for Shakespeare's words is palpable. "I'm such a Shakespeare nerd," she laughs, holding up one hand, "card-carrying." Does the audience need to be steeped in Shakespeare to appreciate this show? "Not at all," she asserts. "If they are, they'll be rewarded, as there are many layers here, both in the original text and how it's used. But anyone can appreciate it." And although she has deconstructed the original texts and reassembled them for her purposes here, the work reflects her reverence for Shakespeare's language and her own creative brilliance. "Everything is footnoted, and I've maintained iambic pentameter. The piece is academically sound."

Vincent O'Neill, who will voice the role of the doctor from offstage, says, "Buffalo audiences will have a unique opportunity to witness the birth of what doubtlessly will become a miniature masterpiece." Eaton genuinely loves and respects the Buffalo audience. "I can't imagine a better place to present a new work. The Buffalo audience is theatre-savvy, they have a ton of experience, and they're sensitive to theatre. I hope they come to this, because the whole point of the run is to have houses and see how the play flies."

Eaton's production company, stir, plans an Off Broadway run in 2008, and she is working on a screenplay adaptation. "It's almost a mystery," she says. "During the course of the play you discover why she's there. A lot of possibilities are given to the audience as to why she's there, and then of course, there's how it all turns out. But you have to have to come and see it to find out."

Corsetless, at the Irish Classical Theatre Company, Andrews Theatre, 625 Main St.

Saturday, Dec 8 -- Sunday, Dec 16
Performances Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30PM, Sundays at 2PM
General admission $20.00, group and student discounts available
Box office 716.853.4282