By Russ Tarby
Contributing Writer
On its surface, “Melagrana” is a murder mystery, but at its heart it’s a rich and wondrous rumination on varied cultural values and how such a culture clash could lead to violence.
Penned over the past several years by Syracuse University drama instructor Len Fonte who also directed, the two-act play was largely inspired by the well-publicized case of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito — an American exchange student and her Italian boyfriend who stood trial twice for the murder of Knox’ British roommate, Meredith Kercher, in 2007.
Fonte moved the action, however, from the Umbrian college town of Perugia to the island of Sicily, where the playwright’s family has its roots.
In the play, Knox — actually a student of linguistics — becomes Margie Cameron, an archeology student smitten by her Sicilian college supervisor, Ettore Farinelli. Two SU acting majors — Natalie Oliver and Nick Turturro — ably portray the ill-fated couple as the seductive but naïve Margie develops a passion for both her professor and his profession.
Meanwhile, as in the real-life Knox case, Margie comes to despise her roommate, Australian Lorna Appleton, forcefully and fiercely played by SU musical theater major Madi Beumee. Lorna and Margie argue over language, tape recorders, food and money. Later jealousy rears its ugly head when Lorna drunkenly makes a play for Margie’s professor.
“My archeology student, Margie, is not Amanda Knox,” Fonte points out in his director’s note. And Margie’s story “moves in a very different even more mysterious direction.”
The mystery unravels somewhat thanks to Sicilian police detective Ispettrice Concetta Russo played by the capable Carman Viviano-Crafts, the only cast member not affiliated with SU. Russo’s ongoing interrogation of the American suspect is regularly interrupted by flashbacks to Margie’s meeting with her professor, her work with him at a potentially important dig at the site of an ancient temple near Mt. Etna. Framing the flashbacks with the police investigation is a powerfully effective device that keeps the action interesting and the story flowing.
Some of the play’s few comedic moments come at the expense of Det. Russo, when Margie must explain American idioms such as “klutz” and “spilled my guts.”
Rounding out the cast is Giovanni DaSilva, an SU dancer who also sings quite pleasingly, as Robertino, Lorna’s thankless lover.
Performed nearly in-the-round on a specially constructed three-quarters stage designed by award-winner Navroz Dabu, the set is framed by nine length black-and-white banners depicting the trinacria, the distinctive, three-legged image which has adorned the flag of Sicily since 1943.
Fonte makes this murder tale mystical by invoking the cult of the harvest goddess Demeter and her daughter, Persephone, the queen of the underworld, often depicted holding a “melagrana,” a pomegranate. In the Knox case, the Italian preoccupation with Hallowmas — Halloween and All Souls’ Day — played a crucial role in Kercher’s brutal killing on Nov. 1, 2007.
The local playwright who had won awards for previous works such as “Werewolf” and “Alchemist of Light (co-authored with Tom Bisky), can now add the suspenseful and challenging “Melagrana” to his impressive list of credits.
“Melagrana” produced by Keith Arlington, runs at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday Nov. 17, 18 and 19, at CNY Playhouse located near the Macy’s entrance at DeWitt’s Shoppingtown Mall; Tickets cost $17 on Thursday, and $20 on Friday and Saturday; 885-8960; cnyplayhouse.com.
