The Little Foxes: A Haunting Examination of Fractured Community
Brenda Joyner (Birdie) and Nabilah Ahmed (Alexandra Giddons) in The Little Foxes
Joe Moore / Courtesy of Intiman Theatre
October 16 was Opening Night of The Little Foxes at the Erickson Theatre in Capitol Hill. Directed by Ryan Guzzo Purcell, this fall show is a collaboration between Intiman Theatre and The Feast. The play runs through November 2. Written by Lillian Hellman in 1939, The Little Foxes is set in the early 1900s, and follows a fractured southern family at war with each other over money. With a Gothic sensibility and a satirical, sharp wit, the play feels very contemporary and relevant to reality now, despite approaching a century in age. In a statement in encore, Artistic Director Jennifer Zeyl aptly said that the play “may look like a period piece, but listen closely and you’ll hear its teeth still snapping.”
The Little Foxes centers on three siblings battling it out over a new money-making scheme. Oscar Hubbard, played by Bradley Wrenn, married his wife Birdie (Brenda Joyner) to acquire her family’s plantation. He and his brother Ben (Jomar Tagatac), hope to construct a cotton mill there, and reach out to their sister, Regina Giddons (Alexandra Tavares), to convince her husband Horace (Brandon J. Simmons) to invest in the project. The recent history of slavery haunts this play. The play’s two Black characters, Addie (Ally Poole) and Cal (Brodrick Santeze Ryans), both of whom are employed at Regina’s house, do not get the chance to offer their own feelings on this selfish scheme which directly engages with racial trauma.
Regina is both the play’s primary protagonist and antagonist as we watch her with equal parts admiration and disgust. She is both dragged down by her own cold ambition which isolates her from her loved ones, including her husband and her daughter Alexandra (Nabilah Ahmed), and also an inspiring force to be reckoned with as she defies gendered constraints and deftly manipulates the men around her to make a life for herself. Hellman based this character on her own grandmother. In an interview with encore, Tavares said of playing Regina, “What excites me most is the chance to play a woman for whom the word nurture doesn’t even enter the room – her drive and determination are thrilling to explore.” There is also of course the unfair double standard which this play investigates, where Regina is made out to be a selfish monster when her brothers are no less greedy or duplicitous.
Alexandra Tavares as Regina Giddons
Joe Moore / Courtesy of Intiman Theatre
The production takes place in the Erickson Theatre’s theater in the round, which works well, given how much subtlety is required of the actors. From wherever you are sitting, you get to see different perspectives of a conversation and empathize with different characters as the actors each take turns in different corners of the stage.
The Little Foxes is grounded in strong performances from the whole cast, a majority of whom are making their Intiman debut. Joyner portrays Birdie with fascinating tension as a quietly placating character who is always one drink away from telling her truth. In addition to the quick-witted character Cal, Ryans also plays Leo, Oscar and Birdie’s deeply unlikeable son. He switches seemingly effortlessly between these two characters, where before he even starts talking, just in his body language, you can tell which character he is. It’s such an embodied performance. And finally, Tavares is the star for a reason; she balances the character’s icy restraint and ambition with an existential loneliness that glints across her face in telling moments. The end of the play is grim: Regina stands alone and silent, confronted with her fate, and then the lights go out.
Upsetting, funny, and a wake-up call, The Little Foxes dazzles. The play’s title comes from the following line in the Song of Solomon: “Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.” What exactly the foxes are in this play remain up to debate, and that’s part of the intrigue. It reminds me of the fox that haunts the Hot Priest in Fleabag; it may be a small creature, but the fox has power in its stealth, also a warning.
On Opening Night, Purcell toasted to the creative team behind the show, and said the following statement which captures this same feeling:
“One of the things that it is about is what happens to people when they forget that they are in community. It is a play about what happens when you start to think of your life as completely individual. …I think of this play as a lesson in how to treat the community that’s around you, wherever and whenever they are. And we are in a time in our—I don’t want to talk about our country—but I’ll just say, the impulse to pull away and to be an individual who doesn’t care about the people around you is very powerful right now, and seductive, and a little bit fun, and a little bit sexy. And I am always honored to be reminded how lucky I am to be in a community with wonderful people.”
Bradley Wrenn (Oscar Hubbard), Alexandra Tavares (Regina Giddons), and Jomar Tagatac (Benjamin Hubbard) in The Little Foxes
Joe Moore / Courtesy of Intiman Theatre
