Driving Miss Daisy

It’s not easy to find a starring role for an actress in her 80s, but Chamber Theater has succeeded with its production of Driving Miss Daisy. Ruth Schudson, who co-founded Chamber Theatre in 1975 and has acted in more than 65 productions, stars as the feisty Daisy.

Alfred Uhry’s play displays a genuine sincerity for many things: the South, the elderly and the sometimes-tense relationships between parents and their adult children. But Daisy offers much more. It explores the various faces of prejudice, whether racial, religious or geographic. The play is set in Atlanta between 1948 and 1973.

Daisy’s 1987 New York premiere starred Dana Ivey as Miss Daisy and Morgan Freeman as Hoke, her ever-patient African-American driver. Freeman later revised his role in the 1989 film. It also starred Jessica Tandy and Dan Aykroyd as Boolie, Daisy’s grown son. The play won the Pulitzer Prize and the film took four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Daisy had its first Broadway production last year, with the stellar cast of Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones. It played at the John Golden Theater until April 2011.

The play has a lot of heart, and it’s no surprise that playwright Alfred Uhry drew on memories of his own grandmother and her driver to create this unlikely couple.

The Chamber production features strong performances across the board. As Daisy, Schudson does her best to prevent her character from becoming too sympathetic. At first, Daisy flatly refuses to give up her independence when her long-suffering son, Boolie, insists that he won’t let her wreck yet another car in a driving accident.

Jonathan West is an excellent choice for Boolie. His Southern accent is admirable, and he seems genuinely concerned for his mother’s welfare. When he hires Hoke (Michael A. Torrey) as his mother’s driver, neither of them realizes that the situation would last for the next 25 years.

The tall, thin, soft-spoken Torrey is patience personified. He brushes off Miss Daisy’s criticisms, which at first are numerous. As the years go on, the two mellow almost like an old married couple. Daisy still manages to keep the upper hand, but when she pushes Hoke to his limits, he fires back at her. A critical turning point in their relationship comes during a road trip to Mobile. Since they are running late, Daisy refuses to let Hoke stop the car to pee. “I’m a man,” he says, hitting the brakes. From then on, their relationship is almost on equal terms. Almost.

As the years go by, Schudson ably conveys her limited mobility and mental sharpness. Torrey, too, visibly slows down during the same period. Schudson convincingly softens during a rare ice storm. She is genuinely touched when Hoke arrives to keep her company. Her relief at his presence is palpable.

For all its strengths, the production could be improved with a few staging alterations. The Cabot Theater’s wide stage has plenty of room to allow one area to represent the scenes in Daisy’s car. Yet director C. Michael Wright chooses to interrupt the action with numerous blackouts as the two chairs representing “the car” are continually moved together and then separated. This seems to happen almost a dozen times, and each time it slows down the play. Moreover, the musical interludes could be brisker and more upbeat to counteract the visible slowing of the play’s pace in the final scenes.

The play also seems lost in the large, grandly decorated Cabot. With few sets and props, minimal costume changes and only three actors, Daisy seems out of place.