[NEohioPAL]Berko review: ROUNDING THIRD (Cleveland Play House)

[Roy Berko]

‘ROUNDING THIRD’ EXAMINES WHAT’S IMPORTANT IN LIFE
THROUGH “GUYSPEAK”

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

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What’s the purpose of Little League baseball?  Is the
goal to win or to teach sportsmanship?  Is it a game
for the kids who play it or for the egos of the men
who coach it?  On the surface, these may be conceived
as the queries that playwright Richard Dresser had in
mind when writing ‘ROUNDING THIRD,’ now on stage at
the Cleveland Play House.  

The play premiered in Fall 2002 at Northlight Theatre
in Skokie, IL.  It then moved off Broadway where it
ran for 24 previews and 72 regular performances.

In ‘ROUNDING THIRD’, Michael and Don are two sides of
the same Little League coaching coin.  They disagree
about everything from the rules of the game to the
rules of fatherhood to the rules of when to change
socks.  Don is a beat-‘em-at-all-costs kind of guy who
is a veteran of many little league campaigns.  Michael
is a loner, unschooled in the game of baseball, who
has a hidden-agenda behind why he volunteers to coach.
Don's son, the star pitcher, is his perceived future,
while Michael's son is someone with whom he wants to
bond. The two men square off in a battle of differing
philosophies, and the team is the inadvertent
beneficiary of their confrontations.  

The play was supposedly inspired when the author’s son
Sam came home from Little League practice and
announced that his coaches had provided the team with
a new strategy for the upcoming play-offs. When one of
the slower kids on the team got on base, he’d receive
a signal which meant that upon reaching the next base,
he should slide and pretend to be injured. That way,
the coaches could take him out of the game and replace
him with a faster runner. When Sam said, “Coach, isn’t
that cheating?” the coach replied, “No, Sam, that’s
called strategy.” This started Dresser down a path
that first favored the thinking of Michael and later
to embrace that of Don, and finally to a compromise. 
It’s the compromise with which the play concludes.

Besides the literal view, the play can be looked at at
a different level.  To do that you have to understand
“guyspeak.”  As linguists have ascertained, guys don't
often talk about their feelings, at least not
directly.  They come at things sideways, with lots of
euphemisms.  So, if you listen between the lines of
‘ROUNDING THIRD’ you’ll hear what the characters are
really saying to each other.  They are talking about
loyalty, meaning, and even love.   These are repeated
themes of ‘ROUNDING THIRD,’ assuming you understand
“guyspeak.”

The Cleveland Play House production is directed by
Jane Page, a woman.  It may account for why there are
times in the play when there is a feeling of
“disconnect” to the interactions.  They are paced and
presented like women might speak, not guys.  This is
not to say Page’s direction is way off, but this play
might have been better served by a male director who
understood the communicative nuances.

The CPH cast is quite good.  Michael David Edwards as
Michael, effectively portrays the 
good-natured guy who gives inspirational speeches to
the kids, telling them to enjoy themselves because
winning or losing is secondary to the learning
experience.  Edwards, who looks like a young Mike
Nichols, is totally believable in his role.  There is
an absolutely endearing soliloquy near the end of the
play--“please God let my son catch the fly ball.”
Edwards nails it for a homerun.

Tony Campisi is good, but he isn’t as quite as
Neanderthal as he might be.  He barks commands in a
less than terrifying manner, so while the lines show a
total difference between the men, Campisi’s
characterization makes the differences a little
shallow.  This may be the fault of a woman director
interpreting guyspeak.   This doesn’t mean the
audience should hate Don for being a villain, but we
have to clearly see a beer guzzling, lightly educated,
“I’m an adult but Little League baseball is my entire
life,” high school hero-gone-sour guy.

Bill Clarke’s set design, complete with a real van,
works nicely.  James C. Swonger’s choice of music is
wonderful.  From the time you enter the theatre,
through scene changes and even after the show, you’ll
hear baseball songs that you didn’t know existed.  The
use of Cleveland Indian’s announcer Tom Hamilton to do
the “please turn off your pagers and cell phones”
announcement was a wonderful idea.  Why, however, was
an announcement by New York’s Mel Allen used during
the show?  That’s not a wise choice in Indian
territory!

CAPSULE JUDGMENT:   ‘ROUNDING THIRD’ is a small but
insightful play.  Dresser's script isn't as simplistic
or formulaic as it might first appear.  Most people
will enjoy the goings-on because of his humor even if
they don’t delve for a deep message.  Go- you’ll
circle the bases and have a good time.

For tickets to  which runs through  in the  Theatre of
the Cleveland Play House call 216 795-7000 or go
on-line to www.clevelandplayhouse.com. 


Roy Berko's web page can be found at www.royberko.info.  His theatre and dance reviews appear on NeOHIOpal, an on-line source.   To subscribe to this free service via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.fredsternfeld.com/mailman/listinfo/neohiopal.


	
		
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