[NEohioPAL] Review of "The Iceman Cometh" at Ensemble Theatre

[Bob Abelman]

Ensemble Theatre shows us the bottom of the bottle in 'The Iceman Cometh'

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review will appear in the News-Herald on 4/26/13

 

 

Some plays, like "The Normal Heart," inspire social awareness and political activism.  Others, including the musical "Anything Goes," make you feel like dancing.  "The Iceman Cometh," Eugene O'Neill's classic drama currently on stage at Ensemble Theatre, makes you want a drink or two.

 

It may be because the entire play takes place in a bar - more specifically, Harry Hope's Saloon in New York.  

 

Hope's dead-end establishment used to be a respectable tavern. Now, in 1912, it is a dark, dank hole where those who can fall no lower come to drink themselves into unconsciousness to hide from and forget about life or to welcome death.

 

It may be the 4 hours and 4 acts it takes to tell this tale that prompts temptation.  

 

All the time and all the scenes are warranted, but a person could work up quite a thirst consuming this much theater, with its salty language, existential overtones, and lengthy monologues.  

 

More likely than not, it's the subject matter.  

 

This play is a mirror that shows us how we cling desperately to self-delusional pipe dreams, promising ourselves that tomorrow will be the day when we do what needs to be done only to discover that there will always be another tomorrow.  In "The Iceman Cometh," it is alcohol that lowers the expectations, hinders the accomplishments, and kills the incentive in Harry Hope, Jimmy Tomorrow and the rest of the gang of blind-drunk enablers.  

 

As we watch this rich, wonderfully constructed production, directed by Ian Wolfgang Hinz, we come face to face with our own pipe dreams and our own tomorrows.  Who doesn't need a drink after that?  

 

Or, we can just sit back and marvel at the tremendous performances of all those involved, particularly Dana Hart and Robert Hawkes.

 

Hart, as Hickey - the life-of-the-party traveling salesman whose annual visit to the bar is the highpoint in the motley existence of each low-life - is an absolute charmer.  He wins over the audience the same way he wins over the crowd: with his million dollar smile, his gift of gab, and his promise to relieve what ails you.  When things turn south for Hickey, Hart is able to reveal an undercurrent of pain and loneliness and - best of all - offer a glimpse of Hickey's own pipe dream delusions falling by the wayside.  His is a marvelous performance.  

 

Hawkes does not disappoint in the difficult role of the tragic mouthpiece for the misbegotten.  As Larry Slade, he is the lone barfly with enough clarity of mind to put into poetic words the hell of his fallen comrades, but lacks the courage to do anything about his own hell.  Hawkes is superb all the time, but he is at his best during the frozen tableaus that start each act.  He stares out into the audience as if he sees the distant horizon, and cares about it, before nodding off to fitful sleep.

 

Of course, "The Iceman Cometh" depends on the power of the ensemble to mine the depths of O'Neill's depressing world.  The detailed directorial work with this fine ensemble is apparent in all the performances. However, some male and female roles are cast too young to be as effective as written, and detract from the youthful energy forced upon the bar by the appearance of Slade's surrogate son, Don Parritt.  

 

Although the ensemble boasts of too many fine, fully realized performances to be singled out, particularly noteworthy moments can.  Bobby Williams as Joe Mott, whose big moment comes late in the play, offers as complex and intriguing a depiction of controlled rage as has ever graced the stage.  Mitch Rose's quiet presentation of his character Willie Oban's DTs and Allen Branstein's bravado as bartender Rocky Piogi are memorable as well.  

 

Ron Newell has delivered a wonderful set design for the bar, which works well to suck the audience into this world and hold it captive.  Having the front door to the bar positioned at the rear of the house rather than on the stage itself is a wise choice.  It is powerful, indeed, when the actors walk through the stadium seating to escape the confines of this hellacious saloon.  It is even more powerful when they return.  

 

So realistic is the set that it is tempting to saddle up to the bar at the play's end and order that much needed drink.  The one disappointment in this evening of O'Neill is the realization that the bottles on stage are, fittingly, an empty pipe dream as well.

 

"The Iceman Cometh" continues through May 12 at the Ensemble Theatre in Cleveland Hts.  For tickets, which range from $12 to $22, call 216-321-2930 or visit www.ensemble-theatre.org.

 
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