[NEohioPAL]Berko review: About Time/Ensemble

[Roy Berko]

‘ABOUT TIME’: SILVERS SHINE IN SHALLOW PLAY

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--

Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News
Times--Olmsted-Fairview Times	

I admit it...I am a Reuben and Dorothy Silver groupie.
 Announce that the dynamic duo of the Cleveland arts
scene will perform, and I’m there.  I’d come to hear
these dramatic treasures read the dictionary.   In
many ways, the latest vehicle they chose to put on
stage reads much like a dictionary...lots of words,
some humorous references, some pathos and little
in-depth development.

‘ABOUT TIME’, a play by Tom Cole is billed as a
comedy/drama about aging, and is practically unknown
in theatrical circles.  It definitely isn’t the
quality script of such other "let’s look at the aging
process" plays as ‘ON GOLDEN POND’ or ‘THE GIN GAME.’ 

ABOUT TIME takes place in the condominium kitchen of
an old married couple. Over the course of the day from
breakfast to lunch to dinner to a late snack, the
couple play word games and talk about food, sex, bowel
movements, children, current events and aging.   She
is getting slower than she used to be.  As she keeps
saying, "It takes me all morning to chop vegetables." 
He cannot move around quite as fast as he once did and
is frustrated and irascible.  Faced with their
mortality, they grapple with what it means to come to
the end of a life together. 

The Silvers do what they always do so well...wring
meaning out of every nuance of the script.  They get
the laughs, they create empathy.   They milk such
lines as "What will happen to our dentures when we
die?" and "God looked down and made me a last
offer--senility or nymphomania." The script doesn’t
help them much.  The motivations aren’t always
present, so the duo invents theatrical stuff to make
the show work.  Dorothy makes chopping vegetables into
an art form.  Reuben folds and unfolds his paper with
increased consternation.  They make a sour cream/sex
scene into a very funny routine and play the heck out
of a discussion centering on the use of diaphragms.

Starting at a fast and humorous pace, Cole’s words
soon become repetitious and beg the question, "was it
really necessary for the author to take over two hours
to develop this concept?" A good red-penciling was
needed to make this a tight play.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT: Go see ‘ABOUT TIME’ to see the
Silvers in action.  You’ll have some good laughs, and,
if you are in the "we’re getting older" age group
you’ll empathize and experience more than the script
gives you to think about.

‘ABOUT TIME’  continues at Ensemble Theatre, located
in the Drury Theatre in the Cleveland Play House
complex through January 18.  For ticket information
call 216-321-2930.



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