A Little Evil

Some plays are realistic and others present symbols or messages. A Little Evil, however, is a meatpie. The farcical lines, moralistic sermons, and Ozark philosophy mouthed by its characters are lacking in both humor and artistic insight. Unfortunately the playwrite, Alexander Greendale, is unable to bake his potpourri into a very theatrical dish.

Greendale's trouble is that he constantly wanders away from his main plot. Basically, he tells the story of simple Ozark people whose lives are complicated only by their natural, spontaneous emotions. It seems a mistake to attempt to make these people highly sensitive, profoundly thinking creatures, who are constantly searching for the answers to life. Greendale only succeeds in making them utter platitudes.

Although the actors often appear confused in this mixed-up setting, some of them manage to give good performances. Henry Hull plays the sheriff, judge, jailer and justice of the peace in the small Missouri town. His problem is to justify his position by finding a little crime in the peaceful town. Hull plays his part well. He is a warmhearted and highly ethical sheriff, father and husband. His wife's part, given to Betty Garde, is more difficult to play. The part gets the worst dialogue and least funny lines. Miss Garde is forced into the stock mold of a wife who gently bosses her husband, and she can't be blamed for failing to instill the role with any vitality.

Diana Herbert, as Hull's daughter, is easily the most inept member of the cast. She telegraphs all her lines by constantly fidgeting; when she speaks, she throws her arms into impossible gestures. Charles Nolte, of Billy Budd fame, plays Miss Herbert's husband very weakly. Endowed with an unbelievably cherubic face, Nolte is being type-cast as an unbelievable good character. This may be all right for the symbol of a good man. But no real man, especially a rough-hewn mountaineer, is that good.

The only other good performance besides Hull, is given by Richard Waring. But he is miscast. His English-trained voice is unable to grapple with American dialect and he gives the impression of a frustrated Shakespearean player.

A Little Evil moves on one set, the combination livingroom-jailhouse of a Missouri farm house. Designed by Bruno Maine, the set is colorful and well-constructed. But director Leonard Altobell's staging isn't. He keeps his characters too bunched up in the middle of a centrally focused set.

More important, Albotell has not been able to teach his characters to speak their Ozark dialect with Ozark accents. Perhaps most of the blame lies with the lines which just don't belong in hillbilly mouths.