ST. PETERSBURG — On Friday, American Stage presented the world premiere of Doug Robinson’s The Figs, which had a staged reading during the company’s 2023 Lift Every Voice New Play Festival. Robinson developed the play with encouragement from American Stage’s Producing Artistic Director Helen R. Murray, who directs.
At the center of the story(s) is a fig fiend of a King whose obsession results from a spell cast by a frog. The King is played by a female, and gender-bending serves as something of a theme in the play. The Figs is storytelling in the classic Southern Gothic sense, dark yet whimsical with an emphasis on story, aided by narration via the Storyteller, played masterfully by Kayland Jordan.
Friday’s performance opened quite strong, with percussive dialog punctuating emphatic physicality in a tale driven much more by characters than plot. It then moves into more of an anthology, branching off into small stories that bring supporting characters to the forefront, some connected to the main plot, others not so much.
Robinson’s storytelling is good—very good, and his ear for dialog is outstanding. That said, The Figs eventually loses the thread and becomes something of a mess by the third act. At over two hours plus an intermission, it’s painfully long for a story of that nature. One gets the impression that trimmed to 90 minutes without intermission and pruned of some of the more unnecessary plot lines, this could be a delightfully tight story with a more meaningful (and better understood) message.
That’s not to say that audiences won’t find plenty to like; it just seems as though most of them will leave feeling as if it could have been more, albeit with much less. Nevertheless, I’ll be curious to see Robinson’s potential develop.
Rita Cole gives a standout performance as the King, Em Whitworth is memorable as June, and Jemier Jenkins gives a strong performance as Jin. Kristen Morgan gets kudos for an inventive set, and Johnna Presby’s gorgeous costumes are high art.
The Figs runs through August 4 at the Raymond James Theatre in downtown St. Pete. Click here for ticket information.
