Martin M. Zuckerman's adaptation of Henry James' The Aspern Papers is very faithful to the 1888 novella -- not so much to its credit. The mood of muffled suspense fills the stage, but claustrophobia isn't really drama. Simply, the action of the novella -- a man rents rooms in Venice with the ulterior motive of gaining the papers of poet Jeffrey Aspern from Aspern's elderly paramour and her spinster niece -- isn't enough for a full evening of theatre. (I'm usually a fan of intermissions, but this one left me wondering why it was there.)
Victorian costumes by A. Christina Giannini are lush, and the set by Kyle Dixon beautifully evokes the garden and the airless study. But where contemporary films of James substitute music, scenery, and a healthy dose of smoldering sexuality for action, here we just have pretty stasis. Tita Bordereau (Elisabeth Grace Rothan) is, like Catherine Sloper in Washington Square, almost too repressed to live. Into her life comes Walter Scampo (Kelly King), the "publishing scoundrel" who thinks he's working for posterity. Juliana Bordereau (Carol Lambert) is a tough old broad, twice as clever and sexy as her niece even though she's a frail 150 years old (really).
Lambert brings energy to her role, but King lapses into a sing-song voice and indicates; his sexual allure for Tita is hard to fathom. Rothan hits the same note of fluttering timidity too often. Director Shawn Rozsa, like the playwright, is more faithful than interpretive. I suspect that had James (a failed playwright) adapted this himself, there would be more action, even a subplot. Voiceovers of the poetry of Young Aspern (read by Nico Evers-Swindell), presumably written by Zuckerman as they aren't in James' book, add some sex appeal, but the lyrics, though pretty, are also banal. Even if you didn't read the novella in high school, you're sure to know the end within 10 minutes -- and waiting to get there simply works better on the page than on the stage.
Presented by and at Turtle Shell Productions,
300 W. 43rd St., NYC.
May 2-24. Mon., 7 p.m.; Thu.-Sat. 8 p.m. (Additional performance Sat., May 24, 3 p.m.)
(212) 352-3101 or (866) 811-4111 or www.theatermania.com or www.turtleshellproductions.com.