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<p class=""><b>none too fragile’s A<span style>
</span>BEHANDING IN SPOKANE…not for the language police!</b></p><b>
</b><p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Roy Berko</p>
<p class="">(Member, American Theatre Critics Association &
Cleveland Critics Circle)</p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Sean Derry, the artistic director of none too fragile
theater, is known for his love of off-the-wall scripts and characters.<span style> </span>He fears no plots, language or the
macabre.<span style> </span>In Martin McDonagh, the
author of none too fragile’s latest brain teaser, A BEHANDING IN SPOKANE, he
has met his mate.</p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">McDonagh, who is the first dramatist since Shakespeare to
have four works professionally produced on London stages in a single season,
has won every major British theatre and film writing award.</p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">McDonagh, who is considered by some to be the most important
living Irish stage and film writer, is fascinated with wretched, ill fated,
jaded, obsessive characters.<span style> </span>These
malcontents are often liars with imaginations that know no limits.<span style> </span>They flourish in self-mythology and are
usually self-destructive.<span style> </span></p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">The playwright also has no regard for the word police.<span style> </span>He peppers his scripts with language
that can make some audience members cringe.<span style> </span>He makes playwright David Mamet (GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS,
SPEED-THE-PLOW), noted for his constant use of profanity and vivid words,
appear almost to be a member of the clean mouth club.<span style> </span></p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">In BEHANDING IN SPOKANE, for example, words like hillbilly,
fag, and fu***in’ are spoken freely.<span style>
</span>I stopped counting after the first fifty motherfu**ers and twenty uses
of niggers.<span style> </span>If you aren’t offended
yet, there’s a fight in which the characters throw multiple numbers of severed
hands at each other.<span style> </span>It’s like a
macabre pillow fight of digits.<span style>
</span>Some of the bloody fists bounce off audience members as some observers
are seated within three feet of the action.</p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">A BEHANDING IN SPOKANE is McDonagh’s first play set in
America.<span style> </span>It opened in New York in
2010.<span style> </span>The king of mean, actor
Christopher Walken, was nominated for a Tony Award for his portrayal of the
leading.</p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">The none too fragile theatre is a 65-seat black box, which
is cramped, the seating is close, and no one is more than 10 feet from the
thrust stage.<span style> </span>It’s a perfect venue
for McDonagh’s grizzly dark comedy.</p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">The lights come up on a seedy hotel room where Carmichel, an
unkempt, wild-eyed, hair-a-mess middle aged man is sitting on the bed.<span style> </span>Within seconds a noise comes from the
closet, Carmichel throws open the door, whips out a gun, shoots, slams the
closet door closed, and we are assured that “nothing good can come from this!” </p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">In the next seventy-five minutes we are exposed to a can of
gasoline, a candle, handcuffs, a gun, racial and sexual terms, drugs, and lots
of questions over what’s going on.<span style>
</span>Overriding all of this is the query, What was the author’s purpose in
penning this bizarre script?<span style> </span></p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">We meet an interracial couple, a stoned main desk clerk,
Carmichel’s mother (via several telephone calls), see near deaths, view
Twinkies being consumed, and<span style> </span>view
an unexpected and bizarre ending.<span style> </span></p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">The none too fragile’s production hits the audience on
various levels.<span style> </span>Some laugh
hysterically, others sit in shock, still others seem to turn off the entire
action and go inward with no means to escape the intermissionless exercise. The
reaction centers on what each person perceives to be going on and/or how much liquor
they have had before and during the show.<span style>
</span>(Each production starts with an introduction, the director handing out
free shots, and waitresses taking drink orders.)</p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Michael Regnier is quite adequate as Carmichael.<span style> </span>He is not as menacing as Christopher
Walken, nor as crazed as the role calls for, but he gets his point across.<span style> </span>It would have been fascinating to see
the director, Sean Derry, play the role as this is the kind of part that he
does so well.</p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Nick Yurick, as the desk clerk who spends part of the play
shaving his knuckles and fingers, is properly spacey, but not always
believable. </p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Brian Kenneth Armour, as the emotional Toby, an African
American low level drug dispenser and wheeler dealer, is spot on.<span style> </span>His pretend macho, yet crying jag
portrayal, is nicely honed.<span style> </span></p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class="">Kelly Strand as Marilyn, Toby’s air-headed girl friend, is
out and out funny and convincing.</p>
<p class=""> </p>
<p class=""><i>Capsule judgement: none too fragile’s A BEHANDING IN SPOKANE
is definitely not for everyone.<span style> </span>If
you have a macabre sense of humor, have a high tolerance for swearing and
offensive stereotypes, you<span style> </span>will
really get into this show.<span style> </span>Others
may be so offended and/or confused their only wish would be for the final
lights out.<span style> </span>Which one are you?</i></p><p class=""><i><br></i></p>
<p class="">A BEHANDING IN SPOKANE runs through March 9 at none too
fragile theater located in Bricco’s Restaurant, 1841 Merriman Road, Akron.<span style> </span>Use the free valet parking, as car
space is limited.<span style> </span>For tickets call
330-671-4563 or go to <a href="http://www.nonetoofragile.com">http://www.nonetoofragile.com</a></p>
<span style="color:rgb(255,0,0)">••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••</span><br><br><br></div>