From the New York Times

A Dozen Women With Plenty to Say, and Only One to Portray Them

By ANITA GATES

Published: November 20, 2003

Several mothers and daughters turn up in "Women on Fire," Judith Ivey's new, bewitching one-woman show, which opened last night at the Cherry Lane Theater.

Ms. Ivey plays 12 characters, including Eileen, a middle-aged Boston-Irish woman with strong feelings about her dying mother. "Where's the commandment on honoring your children?" she asks the priest in the confessional. Eileen says her mother squashed her confidence, broke her spirit and "made me unfit for any man, so I'd have to tend her in her old age."

There's Lydia, another dying, manipulative mother who's busy trying to rationalize her behavior. "I only know in every biography of every great writer I ever read, you never hear of any loving upbringing," she says. So really, she decides, her author daughter owes her success to Lydia's bad mothering.

Then there's Fern, a Midwestern housewife who enjoys baking because the ingredients don't get involved in conflicts with one another or talk back to her. Fern has a daughter who lives in New York and works in publishing, and they don't see each other much. Fern recently crocheted her daughter a bathroom-tissue cover, and it was not graciously received. "She spends half the phone call jumping on me about taste," Fern recalls. "I wanna say: `You're a fine one to talk about taste. You don't even eat.' "

It's no surprise that the remarkable Ms. Ivey, 52, can bounce from character to character, age to age, and self-deception to enlightenment and back again. She has been astounding stage audiences for two decades now, since her Tony Award-winning performance as a frequently naked Cockney heroine in "Steaming" in 1982. Her finest Broadway role was as a vulnerable drug user in "Hurlyburly" two years later, and it won her a second Tony. She was also unforgettable singing Stephen Sondheim's "Losing My Mind," a bAittersweet bright spot in the generally disappointing 2001 revival of "Follies."

What's surprising is how personal and custom made "Women on Fire" feels, considering that it was written by someone else. Irene O'Garden is the playwright, and these characters represent only about half of those she created for "Women on Fire," which she has performed herself elsewhere.

Ms. O'Garden's work is mostly about insight and sometimes the avoidance of it, and at times, the recognition factor can be frighteningly specific. The most heartbreaking characters, oddly, are the most superficial women. Clover, an ad executive whose motto is "When you buy what I sell, you accept me; when I buy what you sell, I'm a sucker," has an epiphany in a dream about rows of children being mowed down by a chain saw.

"It's these little kids, their trust, their humanity, we pulp it, blow our nose in it, throw it away," she says, and then reveals what she's planning to do about that realization.

Miriam, a Westchester County clotheshorse, is explaining to an unseen younger woman just how therapeutic shopping can be, offering approval, anonymity and promises of happiness. She also explains how to approach a mall binge, beginning with one of the anchor stores like Sears or J. C. Penney. "Of course their merchandise offends me now," she says, "but that's why I go, to remind myself how far I've come."

Other women reflect on abortions, vegetable gardens, religious faith, rejection slips, dancing for joy (literally), construction work and the inevitability of hurting others.

This isn't quite a tour de force for Ms. Ivey. It's an appropriately modest production in reach as well as logistics, and it belongs in an intimate theater like the Cherry Lane. The play, directed with great skill and a welcome briskness by Mary B. Robinson, continues through Dec. 21.

WOMEN ON FIRE

By Irene O'Garden; directed by Mary B. Robinson; sets and costumes by Michael Krass; lighting by Pat Dignan; sound by Bart Fasbender; props, Faye Armon; company manager, David Batan; general manager, Elliot Fox; director of artistic development, Pamela Perrell; production manager, Chime Serra; production stage manager, Misha Siegel-Rivers. Presented by the Cherry Lane Theater, Angelina Fiordellisi, artistic director. At 38 Commerce Street, West Village.

WITH: Judith Ivey (Trude, Fern, Eileen and others).

From nytheatre.com review

by Martin Denton · November 17, 2003

I've made it a point to see as much of Judith Ivey's theatre work as possible—she's indisputably one of our most accomplished and reliable stage actors. Well, I've never seen her to better advantage than in Women on Fire. This superb one-woman show, beautifully written by Irene O'Garden and effectively directed by Mary B. Robinson, is nothing short of tour de force—a bravura showcase of Ivey's exceptional talent and magnetism. Fans of great acting, and fans of humanity, should not miss this show.

How shall I convey these extraordinary portraits to you? Let me introduce you to some of these women, the ones who resonated the most with me. There's Lydia, a hard-edged Southern belle who makes no apologies for being difficult, telling us with only a hint of a wink that she lived as she did to provide her writer-son with sufficient material for his art. There's Zatz, a frustrated unpublished author who stages a mini one-woman protest at a Borders book store (spray painting the exposed covers and spines of books; they're just objects, she reminds us, while she's an actual person). And there's Miriam, a Westchester or Long Island matron who gives her niece a lesson on the fine art of shopping, demonstrating how a little self-contained self-indulgence can go a long way.

Ivey also conjures Kalisha, an African American construction worker who took over that unlikely job after her lazy husband gave it up; strong-willed and wonderfully wise, she likens life to a wheelbarrow full of cement—utterly of no use until you make a plan for how to lay it out.

And Rita, a musician whose unplanned pregnancy led her to weigh the consequences of bringing a child into the world who would not be properly cared for.

And Audrey, a middle-aged lady who started her garden in the '60s for political reasons, in order to experience what it was like to actually work for her own food.

And Jordy, whom we must call elderly though her zest for living makes her eternally young (and yet we see the crinkles of old age around Ivey's eyes and in her neck as she transforms herself into this lady): a woman who literally dances her way through life. If Jordy's effervescent whoops of happiness as she does her little steps fail to lift your spirits, then nothing will.

Confident, wise, quirky women, these: what a pleasure to make their acquaintance! And what a privilege to spend ninety minutes in the company of the remarkable actress who channels all of them, morphing from one to the other with the occasional well-chosen accessory and a slight adjustment to stance and posture. Actors can learn a great deal from Ivey's work here, but don't leave it at that: thanks to the intelligent and engaging writing of playwright O'Garden, anyone with a heart will find much of value in this thoughtful and life-affirming play.

"Women on Fire" is a rare and exquisite evening in the theater....lyrical, touching, substantial and ultimately profound.... Cancel all other appointments and treat yourself to this extraordinary evening of sublime writing, intelligent direction and stellar acting."
                                   ------The Southampton Press

"O'Garden's passionate and insightful writing, paired with talented acting, makes each character memorable. What is most impressive about the monologues is the diversity of voices and personalities penned by the same hand. The characters defy cliché, ranging from a star-struck astronaut to an angry poet. The women share their inner passions with the audience, as well as a distinct person, whether a priest or a librarian."
                                   -----The Independent (Riverhead)

"Sometimes touching -- often funny and always engaging..The highly accomplished Judith Ivey breathes life into each."
                                   ------Nantucket Foggy Sheet