Period of Adjustment

In between "Sweet Bird of Youth" and "The Night of the Iguana," Tennessee Williams decided that he wanted to write a comedy, or as he put it, "a happy play." The result was "Period of Adjustment," which opened on Broadway in 1960 for a disappointing four-month run yet was nevertheless filmed in 1962 by director George Roy Hill (who also helmed the Broadway production), with a screenplay by Isobel Lennart (the book writer for "Funny Girl") and a cast that included Jane Fonda, Anthony Franciosa, Jim Hutton, and Lois Nettleton. I've been fond of this work ever since I first read it as a teenager, and when I finally got to see the film years later (thank you, Turner Classic Movies), it seemed to hold up reasonably well, despite rewrites for the worse and Hollywood's inevitable bowdlerization of some frank sexual subject matter. Now Berkshire Theatre Group has given me my first chance to see it on stage. Directed with sensitivity and intelligence by playwright David Auburn (who has also made some judicious trims) and acted to a fare-thee-well by a dynamite cast of six, Williams' uncharacteristic foray into situation comedy proves to be a joy, notable for how the playwright underpins the laughter with a deep compassion for his two young married couples in crisis.

It's Christmas Eve in the Memphis suburb of High Point, Tenn., when George Haverstick and his wife of one day, Isabel, show up unexpectedly on the doorstep of George's old war buddy Ralph Bates. Their honeymoon night was sheer sexual disaster, and both Isabel and George are fearful that they've made a bad choice. Ralph, it turns out, was left that morning by his wife of five years, Dorothea, taking their young son with her, after Ralph told her that he had abruptly quit his job working for her father. While the play is mostly talk and little action, it's awfully entertaining talk as Isabel and George smolder and joust while Ralph tries to play marriage counselor. Dorothea's grasping parents eventually show up, afraid that Ralph intends to sell everything and bolt for parts unknown. Then Dorothea returns, determined to get her son's presents. She knows that Ralph married her for her father's business and money, but when she sees the expensive sheared-beaver coat for which he has impulsively emptied out their savings to buy her for Christmas, she decides that he really does love her and stays to fight for him. As befits a comedy, all is resolved happily, with both couples embarking on romantic lovemaking as the curtain falls on some of Williams' most tender writing. But we're also left with an aching sense of the fragilities of life and relationships. Happiness isn't a final destination; it's something you have to fight for repeatedly.

Isabel is a more innocent version of those haughty, tightly wound Southern daddy's girls that Williams does so well, and Rebecca Brooksher goes to town with her, combining flighty girlishness and a warm heart with fire and edge. Paul Fitzgerald and C.J. Wilson are complementary (and sexy) pictures of the Eisenhower-era alpha male as Ralph and George, convincing as war buddies yet poles apart in their insecurities and temperaments, with both actors bringing an attractively understated vulnerability to the table. As Dorothea, Anney Giobbe has the hardest part but succeeds in making this unhappy wife into a strong and self-possessed woman filled with love, as opposed to the period doormat she could be in the wrong hands. Mark Corkins and Mia Dillon are properly hateful as Dorothea's parents, with Dillon lacing her smugly judgmental character with a hilarious eccentricity.

We expect monumental works from our greatest writers, and when they don't want to oblige, the reception can be awfully icy (see Stephen Sondheim: "Road Show"). "Period of Adjustment" does exactly what it wants to do with skill and enormous heart. Don't blame it for not being another "Streetcar." Just enjoy.

Presented by Berkshire Theatre Group at the Fitzpatrick Main Stage, 6 East St., Stockbridge, Mass. Aug. 20–Sept. 3. Mon., Tue., Thu.–Sat., 8 p.m.; Wed., 7 p.m.; Thu. and Sat., 2 p.m. (413) 298-5576 or www.berkshiretheatre.org.