Barrie's terrific work enhances stage miracle

While religious faith might never quite assume a perfect form (after all, human beings are innately imperfect creatures), a certain kind of perfection can exist in the theater. And there could be no better example of it than "Mariette in Ecstasy," Lifeline Theatre's world premiere stage version of the best-selling 1991 novel by Ron Hansen.

The production, flawlessly adapted by Christina Calvit and directed by Elise Kauzlaric with a mix of magic and grace, also serves as a major showcase for a phenomenal young actress, Brenda Barrie, whose portrayal of Mariette Baptiste, the beautiful young postulant who brings chaos to the Catholic convent she hopes to enter, is nothing short of wizardry - uncanny in its sense of truth, mystery and ambiguity.

Hansen's story, which homes in on the true nature of faith (and its more flamboyant counterpart, wishful thinking), is set within the strict confines of the Sisters of the Crucifixion, a convent in early 20th century America.

And from the moment the smart, sensual, tremendously self-dramatizing Mariette arrives at the place -- dressed in her dead mother's wedding gown and attracting a procession of admirers along the way - we sense this will not be an easy transition either for this young woman or for the sisters, novices and priest whose orderly if suppressed lives she will quickly begin to upend.

On one level, Mariette is made for convent life, with her feverish passion, her grand imagination and her zealous love of ritual and mysticism. She also is a born actress - a young woman with a desire to reach some grand emotional high and a need to be exceptional and stand in a brilliant spotlight.

These qualities are absolutely antithetical to the suppression of pride so crucial to the religious calling. So when, with extraordinarily perfect timing, Mariette reveals her stigmata (the wounds of Christ) on Christmas Eve, there are, not surprisingly, those who are carried along on the miracle of it all.

There also are plenty of others who believe she is a fraud, and still others, like the priest, Pere Mariott (Brian Parry, who subtly hints at his attraction to Mariette), and Mother Saint Raphael, Mistress of Novices (Morgan McCabe in an exquisitely limned portrait), who doubt Mariette, even if deep down they hope she is the real thing.

Kauzlaric's production, with a magnificently atmospheric set by Alan Donahue that suggests both the prisonlike severity of the convent and its pristine beauty, is infused with Gregorian chants, bits of Latin, surprising bursts of humor and an attention to ritual that creates an ideal sense of place. Music director Joseph Burt has even devised an inspired percussive symphony of daily tasks using the sounds of mortar and pestle, washboard and broom.

Every supporting role is played with exquisite individuality, with bursts of wit and wisdom from Patrice Egleston, Allison Cain, Melinda Polus, Janice O'Neill, Katie McLean, Sarah Goeden, Elizabeth Olsen and Sadie Rogers. As for Barrie, she is nothing short of transfixing in a role that demands just such a charismatic presence.

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