|
|
|
Review Archives:
Review Archives:
|
The Drawer Boyby Michael Healey directed by Anna D. ShapiroApril 26 - June 16, 2001.
Steppenwolf Theatre Company Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s 25th anniversary production of Michael Healey’s THE DRAWER BOY is a mosaic of brightly colored tiles in a plain mortar. The production gives the illusion of a cohesive dramatic presentation: there are bravura performances; an awesome set, evocative music, majestic lighting; and virtuoso direction. Yet, the playscript that is the reason d’être is simplistic, non-dramatic, and manipulative. As such, this production belies the dramatic adage that the play is the thing. Nevertheless, THE DRAWER BOY has been a theatrical success since its opening in 1999 at Toronto’s Theatre Passe Muraille. The play is the recipient of four Dora awards, Toronto’s most coveted theatrical prize: for playwright Michael Healey (outstanding new play), Theatre Passe Muraille (production), Miles Potter (direction) and David Fox (male performance); the Chalmers Award, and the 1999 Governor General’s Award for drama. Canadian playwright, Michael Healey, who is also an actor, states that three basic elements form the mortar of this dramatic mosaic. Backstage S.25, vol. 4, p. 6. First, Healey based his play on The Farm Show, a 1972 staging of collective observations of the lives of Clinton, Ontario farmers made by a group of actors and playwrights. Thus, THE DRAWER BOY is set in 1972, on a farm run by two farmers with the "help" of an actor-farmhand. Steppenwolf asserts that the play is, therefore, an example of ethnographic theater, "in which artists enter communities and create works that speak specifically to and about the group from which they are derived. . . ." The ethnographic stories are "given back to the audience" to produce "an awakening of critical consciousness" among the participants. Backstage S.25, vol. 4, p. 7. THE DRAWER BOY is a blend of Healey’s interest in The Farm Show—he was in a troupe of actors engaged in a similar endeavor-- and his experience as a newspaper columnist writing about "how weird it was to be an urban individual living rurally for a long period of time" and his idea about two isolated bachelor farmers whose "lives are governed by myth and ritual" and the effect on them "when society intrudes." Backstage S.25, vol. 4, p. 6. One can certainly identify these three elements in the basic plot of THE DRAWER BOY. There are only three characters in the play: the two farmers--Angus and Morgan-- and Miles, an urban individual who is an actor working on a local production seeking an authentic rural life experience. The farmers' lives are filled with the mundane tasks of rural life. The rituals of meal preparation and storytelling are important, albeit necessary, parts of their lives. Angus suffers from memory loss caused by a head injury in 1941 during World War II—"all he knows is right now." He repeatedly performs tasks that he does not remember starting or completing. However, he is a savant in mathematics. The mythic story that Morgan tells him every evening under the stars involves the death of their loves, two English women, "one tall and one taller," after the war in an automobile accident. Miles is learning to perform some of the chores of animal husbandry and farming; he takes his tales of farm life—the tractors, the cows-- back to the play troupe, who find his anecdotes too common. Finally, he overhears Morgan relating "the story" to Angus; Miles tells the cast, who approve of this "real voice" from the farm. In the style of the truly ethnographic play, Angus' consciousness is heightened through the relating of the story not by Morgan, but by Miles. Angus wants to see where his love is buried on the "highest point." Morgan is forced to tell Angus the truth—about his head injury and the reason there was no double wedding and no two houses joined and separate and the loss of their loves. The English girls left the farm in a taxi after a domestic incident. Much of the tale is a myth; the truth is far less romantic. Healey, the actor-cum-dramatist, develops his plot through monologues and comic bits that are so stunning and theatrical that one almost forgets to question what the play is saying and why certain parts are even in it. Miles is too much the city slicker in his ignorance about farm life and animal husbandry. However, as portrayed by Johnny Galecki he is a 1970's actor without a trace of urban veneer. The comic scenes with him and Morgan, the sarcastic mentor, are facile and smack of improvisation. The experience of Miles, the urban outsider, is simply weird. Healey never places his ethnographical theme in the context that is the essence of this type of theatre: "this style of ethnographic theater speaks to a specific need at a specific time." Backstage S.25, vol. 4, p. 7. Michael Yeargen’s scenic design is wonderfully evocative of the farm setting, in both its mundane and its awesome elements. The background diaphanous scrim shows the outside of the house. The set is a perfect representational kitchen, complete with sink, stove, oven and linoleum. Downstage there is the breathtaking rural sky with its twinkling stars and constellations—kudos to Lighting Designer Kevin Adams. The guitar and fiddle music of Michael Bodeen and Rob Milburn complement the rural atmosphere evoked on the stage. Yet, in the larger, more political context, it is difficult to understand why the play is set in 1972, in central Ontario—except as a paean to the Farm Show. The importance of the geographic location and the chronological time of the play is never even alluded to. The tale in THE DRAWER BOY is mesmerizing and languid. It is an actor’s dream monologue: each of the three characters recite parts of it during the performance. But it is so extraordinary that it undermines the purpose of this type of theatre, to present authentic, often plain, voices from specific times and places. Healey has boasted that those involved in the original 1972 production told him that "they wished like hell thay had come across a story like the one I eventually made up." Backstage S.25, vol. 4, p. 6. The effect of the outside world on the farmers and their relationship is an intrinsic element of the plot. As Angus and Morgan move from their existence based upon myth to one based upon the truth, there are many effective scenes. The success of the stage present scenes are due to the estimable abilities of the two veteran actors, Frank Galati and John Mahoney. Anna D. Shapiro’s direction of these fine character actors has resulted in finely textured and nuanced performances. Yet, it is difficult to appreciate the effect of the intrusion of the outside world and the truth upon the friendship because the past of the individuals is out of focus. We can never really know Angus, the titular Drawer Boy, because of his head injury. This device makes for some great theatre, but it does not help the audience understand the drawer boy—why is he an artist anyway? Morgan is sarcastic and taciturn in his scenes with Miles and patient and protective in his interaction with Angus, but who was the Morgan that created the myth? There is very little in the play to explain his character. Steppenwolf Artistic Director Martha Lavey believes that THE DRAWER BOY is simple, heartfelt, and a convincing picture of human friendship. Backstage S.25, vol. 4, p. 3. I would agree. The problem is that the basic elements that are the mortar of this brightly tiled mosaic always remain so very simple. THE DRAWER BOY is wonderful theatre, and disappointing drama. -- Sandra Marie Lee Steppenwolf Theatre Company, 1650 N. Halsted, 312-335-1650. Through June 16: |
Home | Reviews | Galleries | Bookstore | Search
About ArtScope.net | Advertise on ArtScope.net | Contact
