By Ansley Zecckine
The Costa Verde Hotel is a 69-year-old Mexican hideaway resting seaside, imprisoned by the imposing jungle, which slowly creeps up its exterior mud-slapped walls. Rundown as it is, it remains a place of shelter and refuge, and it’s located right here at PJC.
It’s the set of Tennessee Williams’ “The Night of the Iguana,” a dramatic tale that debuted Feb. 20 in the PJC Ashmore Auditorium. The production continues through March 1.
“This is one of the best plays by an American playwright of the 20th century, and everyone owes it to themselves to watch it,” says director Rodney Whatley.
“It has a 97-year-old poet who can’t see or hear anymore and spends the play either yelling or sleeping; a family of Nazis on vacation as Germany is rising to power; a priest who has been locked out of his church for fornication and heresy; an artist with too much soul, and a hotel owner with too much body… and a giant lizard.”
The focus of the performance is upon the “priestly” character of the Rev. T. Lawrence Shannon, who has been defrocked and spent some time in an asylum, in part because of his Sunday school relations, or relationships. As the play opens, he is serving as a tour guide taking “ladies” to tropical places and giving them the “Shannon touch.”
All the while, Shannon is reflecting on deeper concerns, seeking to justify his own views of God, but he is quickly falling apart emotionally and spiritually.
“He rails against the restrictions set upon him by the church, as to his beliefs and behaviors, and rails against the perception of God that he sees in most Western theologies,” Whatley said. “He resists conforming his beliefs to the majority.”
Bob Gandrup, technical director, said this particular location in a jungle of Mexico “represents Eden or a paradise lost for the main character, the Rev. Shannon, who needs to find a way back to God and to himself.”
Shannon is also in need of a friend, someone who can relate to his current state and sympathize with him, as well as deliver him.
As the play progresses, the decision, or challenge, which must be dealt with becomes apparent. In Whatley’s words, “You have to choose between this world, the temporary—and the next world, the infinite. One can choose the physical, and be an animal, and therefore at peace; or one can choose the spiritual, and be one with God and therefore at peace. But you cannot be split; you cannot relish the flesh and the spirit simultaneously.”
The building tempest of emotional conflict within Shannon is physically realized in the form of a hurricane taking place at the end of the first act. According to Gandrup, multiple aspects of the set are symbolic of Shannon’s character and emotions. From the misspelled “La Officina” sign to the overcrowding jungle, and of course the iguana, the set plays its own role in foreshadowing what is to come. Even the fact that the doors remain closed on the set is not without cause.
The original scenic design for the Broadway show was developed by Oliver Smith. Gandrup adds that he “adapted the design and changed many features of the set to reflect our production’s requirements.”
“Our set will be unique,” he promised.
“The Night of the Iguana” will be showing at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 20, 21, 27 and 28. Sunday matinees, beginning at 2:30 p.m., are scheduled for Feb. 22 and March 1 in the Ashmore Auditorium.
PJC students with IDs can attend free with advance .