THAT CAMDEN SUMMER

Roberta Jewett brings her three daughters home to Camden, Maine, to start a new life after her divorce. But in 1916, divorce carried a judgment unheard of in our time, no matter what the cause of the marital rupture. David Dukes's low, well-modulated voice is suited to storytelling, and would be more so if he refrained from a halfhearted and inconsistent Maine accent. Dukes's characters, particularly the females, suffer from a surfeit of simpering, although their personalities in the text portray none of this lack of depth. In the narrative passages, however, Dukes captures the cold dampness of a Maine spring and the exuberance of a summer lobster bake, bringing balance to the overall performance. R.P.L. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB / MAR 03]