Mrs. Packard has an issue with the teachings of her husband’s old Calvinist beliefs. She wants to head across the street to the Methodist church because they have a more liberal interpretation of the Bible. “Mr. Packard thinks only about damnation. He disregards anything that is against the norm,” she says to Dr. Andrew McFarland. Marlon Burnley, a black man, plays Mr. Packard. A curious casting choice considering the play takes place in the 1860s, a time when African-Americans were fighting just to be free. Mr. Packard sends his wife, the mother of their six children, to an insane asylum. Although he is able by law to get away with sending her away due to her gender, her religious beliefs are what get her into trouble. We find out that Mr. Packard’s congregation is dwindling and he has already had to change churches on three different occasions.Mrs. Packard, played by Katherine Butcher, is an intriguing character. She offers deep thoughts on subjects and somehow manages to keep her sanity throughout her time in the asylum. She offers a helping hand to other inmates, rising from her bed upon hearing her peers being tortured by the intimidating Mrs. Bonner. Mrs. Bonner attempts to “beat the devil” out of the inmates if they even look at her the wrong way. For the most part, Mrs. Packard is strong in her beliefs, although at one point she admits to her fellow inmates that she misses her babies and may not have been so outspoken if she could go back.
Dr. McFarland becomes creepily obsessed with Mrs. Packard. At one point, he awkwardly lays his arm over Mrs. Packard’s chest for what feels like an eternity. He has a strange obsession with Mrs. Packard, constantly barging in on her and claiming he admires her intelligence and learning. The majority of the play consists of dialogue between the two characters with Mrs. Packard trying to convince him that she is sane. After Mrs. Packard continuously refuses to sign the agreement with her husband, Dr. McFarland starts to grow irritated with her. He is set over the top when she claims he is running a prison. The relationship between the two is a little hard to follow. At one point they even kiss. I was not sure if she was playing him, or if the kiss was genuine. Their relationship goes downhill directly after the kiss.
The format of the play was easy to follow. Periodically, there would be a flash to the court where different witnesses would take the stand. During the second act, other inmates were spaced out on the stage. The inmates depicted different forms of craziness in their own way. Some would shake uncontrollably, others pulled at their hair, and the rest stared off into space with lost eyes, most likely the result of some powerful, sedating drugs. Mrs. Packard’s conversations with other inmates, those that were not too crazy to converse, offered the most insightful dialogue of the show. We learn that roughly half of the inmates are in for similar reasons as Mrs. Packard. They disagreed with their husbands on religious matters.
Good plays leave their audiences thinking about deeper societal issues, which this one does. Not only does Mrs. Packard stand up for her rights as a woman, she also keeps a firm belief in her faith. Some of the same themes from 1860 are still prevalent today in regards to religion. People are still committing heinous acts in the name of religion. Look no further than the attacks on Charlie Hebdo’s offices over a depiction of the Prophet Muhammad. Religion provides hope for the future, but when taken to the extreme can be a detriment to society. “Mrs. Packard” leaves its audience thinking about some of the deeper issues that we face as a society, both in the past and moving forward.
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