[NEohioPAL]Berko review: A NARROW BRIDGE (Bang and Clatter)

[Roy Berko]

Poorly written and performed ‘A NARROW BRIDGE’ at Bang
and Clatter

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--

Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News
Times--Olmsted-Fairview Times	
    &
COOLCLEVELAND.com

You have to give a lot of credit to Bang and Clatter,
the Akron-based theatre that has a goal of doing world
and local premieres, such as their present offering,
Clevelander Cliff Hershman’s ‘A NARROW BRIDGE.’   

But, as much as the Seans (producers Derry and
McConaha) deserve credit for their dedication to
helping expose the audience to new material, they also
need to make wise choices.  “A NARROW BRIDGE’ is a
case-in-point.

Hershman, in spite of dedication and a valiant try,
doesn’t seem to have the playwriting skills to pull
off the needed natural dialogue, development of
exposition, and built in motivation for the actors to
develop their characters.  He doesn’t make us care
about the people he is writing about.  The script
shows a strong need for a good dramaturg to work with
the writer to develop the material.

As reflected by actions of the second night-of-the-run
audience, the play fails to captivate.  There was no
applause at the intermission, the sold-out audience
thinned after intermission, and the curtain call was
met with polite, if unenthusiastic applause.

The story centers on yet another dysfunctional family.
 This one, a Toledo, Ohio unit, presents Blue, a man
who has been a failure most of his life and is out to
scam his second-wife, Edie, out of the value of her
house.  Edie is an insecure woman who was abandoned by
her previous husband, and has only the house she
salvaged out of the divorce.  Her junior high school
daughter (Kim) is being seduced by her step-father as
part of his plan to get the youngster to convince her
mother to sign loan papers which will allow Blue to
grab the dough and run.  The final member of the group
is Willy, Blue’s drugged-out son from a previous
marriage who has returned, for no explicable reason,
from wandering in the desert where he has “faced the
void.”  (I’m not sure what that means, but at one
point in the production a character asked about the
“meaning of meaning.”  Someone in the audience,  after
having hearing the phrase expressed more than a dozen
times, yelled, out, “It’s all about the void, man.” 
It got the biggest reaction of the night.)

Hershman knows no bounds when it comes to
psychological problems and has stacks them high in the
script.  Bulimia, drug and alcohol use, emotional
avoidance, drug addiction, absent-father syndrome,
abandonment, depression, incest and sexual depravity
are only some of the deviances glanced over.

The writing style leaves the actors at bay.  The cast
seemed confused about their characters’ identities. 
The motivations behind the character’s actions were
often not developed.

The over-all effect was four weak performances and
little audience empathy.  The cause?  Part script,
part talent, part directing.  

Chuck Simon showed no understanding of the motivations
behind the role of Blue.  The idea development of his
lines was generally missing.  In addition, he stumbled
over lines and overlapped some of his speeches with
those of other cast members.

Ann McEvoy (Edie) valiantly tried to create the mother
role, but she, too, was thwarted by the writing.

Jennifer Hoffman (Kim), was too old for the role of a
junior high student, and was unconvincing in her
portrayal.  

Even Ton Weaver, a B&C favorite who has shown he is a
fine actor, failed to develop a clear
characterization.

The set added to the chaos.  A back wall served as a
divider/stairway for three different rooms and the
house’s entrance.  Actors kept ducking in-and-out
behind the wall, making for chaos as to where they
were or where they were going. 

Some questionable directing decisions were made by
Sean McConaha.  When Kim turned on a set of personal
headphones, the audience could hear the music...why? 
When, in the final scene, a car speeds away from the
house, we hear the car.  This is the only time we hear
outside noises.  And, people walked through “locked”
doors.

Capsule judgement:  During “A NARROW BRIDGE’ one of
the characters stated, “I’m sorry you had to see
this.”   A person sitting next to me moaned, “Yep!” 
Unfortunately, there is little that I can conjure up
to encourage the reader to attend this production
other than to say that you get all the free wine and
beer you want before the opening curtain and at
intermission.  Too bad I’m not a drinker. it might
have helped.

‘A NARROW BRIDGE’ run at Bang and The Clatter, 140 E.
Market Street, Akron, through July 29.  For tickets
call 330-606-5317.



Roy Berko's blog, which contains theatre and dance reviews from 2002 through 2007, as well as his consulting and publications information, can be found at http://royberko.info
      
Roy's theatre and dance reviews appear regularly 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.  His reviews also appear on www.coolcleveland.com


       
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