STAGE REVIEW
'Insanity Case' a bit crazy with unfocused plot

By Joseph T. Rozmiarek
Advertiser Drama Critic

•	'The Insanity Case of Mrs. A. Lincoln' 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 4 p.m. Sundays, through Feb. 3 The Yellow Brick Studio, 625 Keawe St. Tickets: $10; call 591-7999

"The Insanity Case of Mrs. A. Lincoln" by Richard Caulfield Goodman centers on the year in which Mary Todd Lincoln was found by a jury to be insane and committed to a Chicago asylum for treatment. Its central question is whether she was really the victim of gender discrimination.

But in unraveling that question, playwright Goodman and director Brad Powell change horses so often that the evening plays like a slow ride by the Pony Express.

Since the issue requires an exploration of sanity, we'd expect to see conflicting glimpses, but a personality that eventually emerges as a consistent whole. In this performance, we eventually begin to wonder whether Jan McGrath — in the title role — is working with a new script for each scene.

Act One shows us a Mrs. Lincoln who is — at best — dysfunctional. Living in a Chicago hotel, she hears voices, shops compulsively and binges on self-medication. She is abruptly arrested, tried and convicted of insanity — at the instigation of her son.

Act Two reveals altogether another woman — someone victimized, but self-reliant, creative and vengeful. It also introduces the curious loop that she represents an extreme case of 19th-century prejudice against women.

One gets the sense that what could be a strong character drama never reaches its full potential because it continues to refocus its point of view. Most importantly, in the midst of all this wrangling, a convincing Mary Todd Lincoln fails to emerge.

The failure can't be laid at the feet of McGrath, who does noble work with what she's given. Her performance is articulate, controlled and convincing within the script's changing realities. While we learn about the character from information in the dialogue, however, she does not grow viscerally.

Subordinate characters offer other insights.

Jim Tharp, as Dr. Danforth, gives a satirical perspective to a health care professional growing rich on the Victorian scam that women are biologically, mentally and emotionally inferior. Karen Valasek uncorks the prejudice genie as a capable lawyer denied access to the state bar.

"The Insanity Case of Mrs. A. Lincoln" begins to touch on the dramatic potential of this material, but ultimately, there is a story in this play that is still waiting to be told.