Portrait of the Artist as an Unlikely Hero: ‘In Clay’ at City Theatre

Stories that stir us tend to feature two kinds of heroes. The first kind are the big winners, who overcome tough trials and their own flaws to score a smashing success—Dorothy and her friends in The Wizard of Oz, or Simba in The Lion King. The other kind, from Hamlet to Hamilton, die tragically. 

But reality isn’t always so clear-cut. Sometimes the biggest win available in life is just to keep going. And if you think there’s not much rousing drama in that, not much heroism, think again.  A new musical at City Theatre is thrilling audiences with exactly such a saga. In Clay (through October 11) is based on the true story of an artist who wasn’t duly rewarded for her work, who chose a daunting path from the start and got bad breaks along the way—but who kept on making art regardless, because that’s what she knew she was born to do. 

In Clay delivers this unlikely hero’s journey in an unusual format. The show is a one-woman musical. A solo actress plays the French artist Marie-Berthe Cazin as she remembers and re-enacts pivotal times in her career, during a period from the late 1800s through the early 1900s. Those were heady years in the visual arts. They also weren’t the best years for a female artist to flourish, which certain scenes in the show reveal rather stunningly. But the Marie-Berthe Cazin you get on stage brings plenty of zing to a hard-luck tale. She describes her misadventures in the manosphere with incisive ironic humor. She belts snappy jazz tunes (accompanied by an ensemble parked discreetly nearby). And on a set made up as her ceramics studio, complete with a working potter’s wheel, Marie-Berthe spins up a gleeful storm while explaining and demonstrating the art she loves. 

In fact that is a foundational theme of In Clay. Many plays and musicals have had artists as core characters without delving much, if at all, into the particulars of the art itself. In this show, the art IS the deal. Time and again we have Marie-Berthe deep-diving into the processes of art, the politics of art, the glamor of a major art show, the embarrassment of being snubbed at an opening, the desire to have one’s art recognized and appreciated … and how much the art matters to the artist, no matter what others may think. The entire riff is fascinating, especially when put to music.

In Clay is a British creation, by writer Rebecca Simmonds and composer Jack Miles. The show’s 2024 London production won rave reviews plus three major Offies, the Off West End Theatre Awards. The U.S. premiere was staged last year at Signature Theatre of Arlington, Virginia and played a sold-out, extended run. For the Pittsburgh production, City Theatre recruited key members of Signature’s creative team, including Alex Finke as Marie-Berthe. 

Notably, Finke has brought along a special guest. She’s performing the role while nearly eight months pregnant. On opening night this reviewer was impressed to see Finke looking as energetic and nimble as an actor could be. Never underestimate the power of an artist who cares about her art. 

Highlights of the Show

Although actual events and real persons are woven throughout the script of In Clay, the show’s creators had to do a good bit of reconstructing. Many records pertaining to Marie-Berthe Cazin are either lost or not easily accessible. Drawing from what is known, here are some salient facts, tracked to corresponding scenes in the musical.

Marie-Berthe was born in northern France in 1872 and showed artistic promise when young. This is made clear in one of the show’s best-known tunes, where the artist relives her youthful delight at being told she had “Talent.” 

As a teen she studied under the painter and ceramicist Jean-Charles Cazin, in whose studio she made two fateful decisions. One was committing to a life in ceramics. “I had found my medium!” she proclaims excitedly in the musical, rhapsodizing about her belief that the form exists in the lump of clay and the art lies in bringing it forth. The only problem: throwing pots and making “decorative” stuff from clay was seen as a lesser artistic practice. In some circles today, it still is. But around the turn of the last century, it was the kiss of irrelevance. 

The Paris art world was breeding great experiments in new modes of expression, from post-Impressionism to proto-Cubism. Groundbreaking shows were mounted, at which conservative art critics freaked out while artists responded with manifestos—and the medium at the heart of the cutting-edge fuss was painting. The musical has Marie-Berthe recounting her visit to a prominent art show, the Salon des Indépendants, where she was miffed to discover legions of “bespectacled, bearded men” preening among the canvases and “not a pot in sight.”

The second fateful decision our hero made at the studio of Jean-Charles Cazin was to marry the master’s son. Soon, Marie-Berthe and Michel Cazin were making pots together. They even earned a chance to show their works together at an exhibition. And as Marie-Berthe recalls in the musical, when the grand prize for ceramics was announced, she practically burst. But not with pride. The prize went to a Cazin named Michel, for a piece falsely thought to have been made by him. 

Whether that happened precisely the same in real life is uncertain. What does seem certain is that for years, much of Marie-Berthe’s best work was credited to her husband. The musical explores, with fireworks, how she might’ve handled the situation domestically. 

Other disturbances intervene, most ominously the onset of the First World War. The show closes some years afterward with Marie-Berthe, now in late middle age, awaiting a visit from her old friend Henriette Tirman. Henriette was a real person, an actual friend of our hero, and a much more successful artist. But Marie-Berthe is ready for the visit. In the final scene she has an unexpected epiphany—which, though it doesn’t repair damage done or opportunities lost, clears away the clouds to let new light shine in. On opening night the musical received a vigorous standing O. 

By way of postscript, the real Marie-Berthe Cazin lived a long life: long enough to see her work all but forgotten. She died in 1971, at the age of 98. Too bad she couldn’t have been around to see In Clay.

Closing Credits and Ticket Info

Rebecca Simmonds’ and Jack Miles’ In Clay is directed for City Theatre by Kimberly Senior. It runs through October 11 on the company’s mainstage, 1300 Bingham St., South Side. Visit City Theatre on the web for further information and reservations. 

Scenic design is by Tony Cisek, featuring onstage ceramics made by artists at Pittsburgh’s Union Project. Costumes are by Shahrzad Mazaheri, sound design by Brad Peterson, and lighting by Colin K. Bills with Scott Monnin assisting. Musicians are Justin P. Bendel on upright bass, Mila Shadel on guitar, and Stephen Weiss on violin. Music supervision and additional music are by Matt Herbert, with pre-show recorded music by MCG Jazz.

Patti Kelly is the stage manager, and last but definitely not least, Isabel Mincy is Alex Finke’s understudy for the role of Marie-Berthe Cazin.

Mike Vargo, an independent writer based in Pittsburgh, writes about theater and the visual arts for Entertainment Central.    

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