REVIEW of Occupation: Housewife written by Abby Tilly, directed by Jay Gendron at ManiFestival:

There are few plays written as well as and as socially significant as Occupation: Housewife. It is a show that is everything that Liberation got credit for being and wasn’t. Tilly shows a much better understanding of women, both historical and contemporary, than most of her colleagues. The production was ably directed Jay Gendron who got to work with a very talented cast who were definitely committed to the project.

Set in 1955, it is the stories of five housewives, friends in rural Iowa, meeting in the home of Nancy (Lindsey Davis). As a group they are probably about as diverse as you can get in Iowa in 1955. There is Pearl, recently divorced with children whose husband has run away to New York. She “is not an alcoholic”, but copes by enjoying her favorite beverages on a daily basis from the bottles she hides around her house. There is Martha (Claire Lord) whose is still mourning her husband who died in the war. She writes fantasy fiction with strong sexual overtones. There is Gene, a housewife with three children. She is married to William who abuses her. She has strong opinions about history and politics, but is trapped by the cycle of abuse. Nancy is the faithful church goer who is fond of saying how much she is grateful for getting to live the life she always wanted – a marriage with a good man who provides for her and children. She still gets lost in her books and dreams of Greek myths. And finally there is Rose (Ris Ayerst) who is frustrated by life with her husband and three children and longs to run away to Paris to live with a friend she met at a women’s conference to finally be happy” and live her dream life in her dream city with a profession as a painter.

Each woman was raised in Iowa, so they all grew-up in a similar milieu and are enmeshed in certain cultural standards common to a midcentury, Midwestern woman, but Tilly gives each of them ideas and dreams individual to each. Their commonalities and individuality are given equal shrift in this sensitive exploration of women – their conventions, their fantasies and their reality. They live in a world where women are little more than chattel. Women can vote, but running for office is still a fantasy despite the exceptions like Margaret Chase Smith. Women cannot have a bank account or credit apart from their husbands and are expected to stay home and take care of the kids. Even Martha, who has been widowed for at least ten years relies on community charity rather than self-sufficiency to survive despite her apparent skills as a writer.

Tilly gives each character a monologue aside as well as their common discussion. It allows distinction between their desires and their practicality and reveals their inner self. But she also knows that she needs distinctive protagonists. For that task she chooses Gene and Rose. Rose has embraced the fantasy a liberation by planning a trip that will allow her to find “happiness”. She believes, or wants to believe, in the fantastic, even as reality has little chance of matching it. Gene is the intellectual living trapped with her child with an abusive man. She is the most and least capable of the five of living on her own. Ultimately, the world isn’t ready for either Rose or Gene to escape. The group urges Gene to leave her husband. Rose finally recognizes how fulfilling her dream means abusing her husband and children and leaves her plane ticket for Gene. But in a powerful move that shows Tilly’s understanding of abuse, Gene has two choices in the final scene. She can either take the ticket that Rose has left for her and escape or go back to her abusive husband. Gene departs the stage with the ticket still on Nancy’s table.

Most authors would have had opted for the “happy” ending with Gene picking up the ticket and leaving the stage with the possibility of a new life. But Tilly’s genius is that she recognize the co-dependent nature of domestic abuse. She leaves Gene in the exact same position where she began the show. The seeds of the 1960’s and ‘70s Women’s Liberation movement are explored in Occupation: Housewife, but so is the difficulty of the escape, which is still difficult today. The fragility of freedom in the face of public judgment gives Tilly’s play a powerful message that should be seen.

The only significant flaw in the production was the failure to hire a professional lighting designer. Holly Thomas may be an experienced enough Stage Director to properly hit all her cues, but the spotlights that should have highlighted each character as they spoke their monologues seldom hit their target and adjustments were slow to be made, if made at all. But in a festival setting the important thing is the writing and the writing in Housewife is extraordinary. It is a show that deserves a producer and a much longer life.