Who would have guessed that a theatre might claim the notorious Lizzie Borden as an iconoclast of the Fascist patriarchy? Well, IMPRINT has done just that with rock musical Lizzie. Composed by Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer, Tim Maner and Alan Stevens Hewitt, Lizzie is set in the deeply troubled Borden household, and features only four characters: Bridget (the housekeeper) Emma (Lizzie’s older sister) Alice (Lizzie’s lover) and Lizzie herself. In the late 19th Century, the grown Borden sisters share a large house with Bridget, their father Andrew, and new stepmother, Abby. Lizzie makes no bones about the nightmarish situation in which Lizzie finds herself. There’s sexual assault by the father, vindictiveness and abuse by both parents, and an oppressive mixture of subjugation, menace and degeneracy. Smoke suffuses the set and Emma and Lizzie are trapped like sacrifices to the Minotaur in his labyrinth.
When the two women lose their beloved mother Sarah, their dad doesn’t waste time in finding another wife, who’s determined to fleece him. When they discover that Abby’s having them removed from the will, Emma moves out; leaving Lizzie to the enormous house, and her own devices. On a day when Bridget is in town picking up bargains and washing windows and taking a nap, the bodies of Abby and Andrew will be discovered. Hacked and mutilated by an ax. Lizzie will later tell the cops she saw some rough transient, leaving in a hurry. In spite of remarkably sketchy circumstances, the youngest daughter is exonerated.
It would have been easy to justify Lizzie’s vindication. By the time she’s freed to live the life of an heiress, she’s suffered long and miserably. Like Medea or Circe, she’s something of a martyr. She wouldn’t be the first to be further victimized: so often male culture systemically makes women into whipping boys. But these furious, defiant women go from psychologically and metaphysically maimed, to ferocious Maenads, poised to devour. It’s rare and stupefying to see this kind of brazen, reckless audacity. And even more so to see it soar. So many shows (when they run out of ideas) will come up with something outrageous and hope for the best. IMPRINT has taken enormous risks with Lizzie, and the subversive, Bacchanalian rush will send you into orbit.
IMPRINT Theatreworks presents: Lizzie, playing October 31st- november 16th, 2019. Bath House Cultural Center, 521 East Lawther Drive, Dallas, TX 75218. 972-814-1852. www.imprinttheatreworks.org