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Regional Reviews: New Jersey The Drawer Boy
The premise is based on an actual event in Canadian theatre. In 1972, the Theatre Muraille sent a group of young Toronto actors to a community in southwestern Ontario to live with farming families and work on their farms. The actors recorded the farming families' stories for incorporation into a communal theatre project (The Farm Show). Miles, an immature, analytically challenged young actor comes to the farm of two middle aged men, Morgan and Angus. Miles explains the theatre project which has brought him. He proposes that he be given room and board on the farm for three weeks in exchange for which he will contribute his labor to the farm. His proposition is accepted. There is considerable humor early on as Miles displays singular laziness and ineptitude. Additionally, Miles is blind to the realities of being a farmer as he experiences them, and tries to impose his preconceived political, moral and sociological beliefs and feelings onto his subjects. In one particularly hilarious sequence, farmer Morgan impishly convinces Miles that the inherently lazy cows understand that those who produce the least milk are culled from the herd and slaughtered for their meat. Miles then develops a scene for his actors' collective in which he plays a cow filled with fear, laboring to maximize her output of milk so as not to be chosen for slaughter. However, the heart of the play is the relationship between Morgan and Angus. Miles' presence is the catalyst for (at least temporarily) altering it, as well as for the evening's revelations. Angus and Morgan have been buddies since childhood. While they were serving in the army together thirty years earlier, Angus' skull was split open during a bombing raid on England. When steel plates were placed in his head, "his memory escaped" before the wound could be sealed. Angus, who had until then been a brilliant artist (hence, his appellation, The Drawer Boy) is now almost totally lacking in memory, both the short term and the long term variety. This makes him totally dependent on Morgan who is truly his devoted friend and caretaker. However, like an idiot savant, Angus retains a genius with numbers which is invaluable in the financial management of the farm. At least once a day, Morgan fulfills Angus' request to tell him in a literary manner of the events of their lives which led them to their current situation. Miles surreptitiously eavesdrops and appropriates the story for his actors' collective. Any astute theatergoer will know that there will be consequences and that events in the past are not all that they have appeared to be. However, without giving anything away, this corner feels that the revelations are largely predictable, and the untruths exposed are essentially useful fictions which do not distort the fabric of Morgan's and Angus' lives. This Canadian play specifically springs forth from events north of our border. However, it feels very much in the grand style of storytelling which I associate with Irish theatre. It is less a naturalistic play than it is a slightly tall tale more to be embraced for its insights into the hearts of simple folk than for its literal believability. As such, it provides for a comfortable, graceful evening of theatre. However, under Anna D. Shapiro's direction, there is something missing. The entire play is simply too cozy. There are any number of indications of a dark side in the script which are simply glided over. Most damaging are the lengths to which Shapiro goes so as not to allow us to see what is clearly the dangerous, violent side of Angus. This deprives us of being able to feel the full horror of Mills' repeated interference in their lives. Miles is a far more dangerous and insidious character than the innocent bumbler which this production makes him appear to be. It appears that Shapiro has chosen to avoid melodrama here. However, in doing so, she has stolen depth and power from the work. I think that we are closer to Martin McDonagh (The Beauty Queen of Leenane) country here than Shapiro realizes. John Mahoney is impressively natural and down to earth as Morgan. Mahoney retains Morgan's likeability while clearly delineating his spine, occasional pettiness, and sarcasm. There may also be a darker side, but it clearly is not wanted by his director. Paul Vincent O'Connor is excellent as Angus. O'Connor subtly conveys a wide range of moods and shifts in personality (along with varying levels of brain function), with extraordinary ease. However, he only barely contains the violence which this production so strongly downplays. Louis Cancelmi is fine in the first act as the young, politically naïve actor cluelessly performing anthropological tasks. However, in the second act, he seems as callow and out of control as his Miles. There is a thin line between conveying these qualities in an actor's role, and being so in an actor's performance. I think Cancelmi is slightly on the wrong side of that line. The scenic design by Todd Rosenthal is both evocative and poetic. The decaying wooden farm house with its antiquated and rusted kitchen, the newly seeded garden at the front of the stage (which has been built out over the orchestra pit), the broken plow at stage left, and various background skies combine with the deft lighting of Kevin Adams to create visual poetry. The night rain falling from both behind and in front of the proscenium is a visual and tactile delight. In sum, the physical production is very special. Reservations notwithstanding, this is a provocative, new play well worth your attention. It has been produced on a scale which few theatres have the resources to match. The Drawer Boy continues performances through April 3, 2005 (Eves: Wed.-Sat. 8 pm/ Sun. 7:30 pm; Mats: Thurs. & Sun. 2 pm/ Sat. 2:30 pm) at the Paper Mill Playhouse, Brookside Drive, Millburn, NJ 07081; box office: 973-376-4343; online www.papermill.org. The Drawer Boy by Michael Healey; directed by Anna D. Shapiro Cast (in order of appearance): Angus .......... Paul Vincent O'connor Morgan .......... John Mahoney Miles .......... Louis Cancelmi
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