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Regional Reviews: Phoenix The Whale
Also see Gil's review of Other Desert Cities
Charlie is an intelligent mid 40s gay man with a good job as an online writing tutor who helps students, who never see him, just hear him, with their English essays. When he overhears his friend and caretaker Liz saying that he will most likely be dead within a week from congestive heart failure, Charlie goes about tying up loose ends. These include his attempt to reconnect with his 17-year-old daughter Ellie whom he hasn't seen in 15 years, as well as asking the 19-year-old Mormon missionary Elder Thomas, who stopped by Charlie's house on his "mission," to help him get answers to a situation that happened in Charlie's past with the local Mormon church. We quickly learn that, even though Charlie is intelligent and compassionate, he is also so self-indulgent that he refuses any medical attention that could possibly help save him, saying that "it's not worth it." But we don't quite understand why Charlie refuses to get medical help, especially once we learn that Charlie's partner Alan, who suffered rejection from his Mormon parents, also died in a similar self-indulgent way, refusing to eat, sleep or even bathe until he wasted away. Our first sight of the almost 600 pound Charlie is one of "shock and awe" as we witness this whale sized man's physical struggle just to get across the room of his apartment to his couch. People this overweight are rarely seen in public, either due to their own dissatisfaction of their physical image or because of their inability to physically move around easily. So seeing someone this large, right in front of us, and witnessing their almost impossible struggle to simply move a few feet, provokes similar feelings of sadness and disgust as to how someone could allow themselves to become trapped inside a body that is so large it barely allows them to live, in essence swallowing them whole. But, Hunter treats Charlie with respect and dignity, offering very little judgment regarding the predicament Charlie has found himself in. The play never preaches about obesity, though we are often told of the health issues that result from it. In a way, it makes us re-think any prejudices we might have toward such extremely overweight people and allows us to see the individual inside, and not just our initial preconceived negative notions of them. However, those negative thoughts are spoken out loud in the play by the other characters, as Charlie is called "disgusting" and his daughter Ellie even calls him a "monster." Due to his size and the events of his past, Charlie is extremely apologetic, always responding "I'm sorry" to any person's problem that he might have contributed to in some way. But he is also truthful about his girth, often asking "Tell me the truth. Do you find me disgusting?" Yet, while Charlie is self-loathing, he also has a pure need to inspire and help his students, and in a much greater way Ellie, and even, in a small way, Elder Thomas. Since Charlie knows that his days are coming to an end and his time is short, his desire to help others shows his deep compassion as well as how he is trying to find redemption in his own life. The living room couch, where Charlie will be situated for almost the entire duration of the two-hour play, has become Charlie's desk, sofa and bed. With a moveable table, his cell phone and computer always close by, his friend Liz dropping by every day with food, and with only the exception being infrequent trips to the bathroom, Charlie has created a way to never have to move from this one place. With the recurring mention of "Moby Dick," the sound of water and waves crashing that plays at the scene changes, and the barely moving Charlie, the play can be viewed somewhat as a parable with the couch representing a beach where Charlie, the whale, is beached upon. But we will quickly discover that Charlie isn't the only character who is "beached." We see Charlie teaching his class from the couch, often reciting various essays his students have written, some funny, some bad and some that are intelligently written. But there is one essay that Charlie holds closest to him, a young teen's personal view of "Moby Dick." It is used as a bookend of the play, with passages from it read toward the beginning and in the final moments. It isn't a great essay, as Charlie knows, but is one of such honesty and truthfulness that he latches on to the beauty of it as one holds on to a safety blanket, finding the words of the essay helpful and calming when he is in pain. At first we don't quite understand why he holds it so closely, but the reason eventually becomes very clear, and we also see how, sometimes, the smallest, simplest things are the ones that are the most meaningful. Director Ron May has cast this play perfectly with a superb group of individuals, all of whom rise to the challenge of portraying characters who are far from perfect and have all ended up either emotionally, spiritually or physically far away from where they started. Damon Dering, Artistic Director of the Nearly Naked Theatre, is nothing short of excellent with his ability to make us feel compassion for Charlie, a man who has suffered a lot and has put himself in a position of suffering. Hunter paints Charlie as an optimist and that helps us have an even closer connection to him, since he believes things will be better, even when he knows he most likely will be dead in just a few days. Dering succeeds in making us feel both pity and shame, as well as a deep sense of sympathy for Charlie. He superbly manages both the dramatic and humorous sides of the character and is frightfully realistic in his ability to show the physical struggles that Charlie goes through. It is a heartbreaking performance that truthfully paints the day to day struggles that people the size of Charlie go through. The fact that Charlie barely moves forces Dering to create this multidimensional character almost entirely with just his voice, face and arms. It is a performance you won't forget. Charlie's friend Liz is a conflicted individual and Anne Marie Falvey easily manages to get across the two sides of this character. On one side Liz is an enabler, bringing Charlie buckets of chicken and meatball subs with extra cheese to feed his hunger. At the same time, she gives him a heavy dose of "tough love" with her constant pleading with him to go to the hospital as well as her frank conversations about his health issues. Falvey effortlessly and realistically creates this character and, while at first we don't quite understand what Liz's connection to Charlie is and why she cares for him so much, once we do, Falvey manages to make us see that perhaps Liz needs Charlie more than he needs her. Falvey's Liz is powerful, loving, caring and compassionate, yet the hurt and sadness are visible as well. Like Charlie, Liz is lost and removed from her past; holding on to Charlie is, in a way, her safety blanket. Michelle Chin does an admirable job of portraying Charlie's teenage daughter Ellie, who is angry at everything, especially her father whom she hasn't seen since she was two. Her mother doesn't understand her, her grades are failing, and she has no friends, so she's basically your stereotypical angry and lost teenage girl. Yet Chin plays this hurt, difficult and challenging character effortlessly—when we realize that under the surface Ellie is just looking for someone to love her, it makes the outside hurt even more painful. It could have been a one note role, yet Chin and director May have made Ellie multi-dimensional and much more than just an angry young girl. Elder Thomas has secrets of his own. Like every other character in this play, he is lost. He needs to find his purpose in life, and thinks that helping out Charlie might be the way to find out who he is. Austin Kiehle perfectly shows Elder Thomas' excitement when he speaks about the Mormon Church as well as painfully showing his nervousness and how uncomfortable he is when Ellie is around. Kiehle is charming, sweet and caring and, once we discover what his character is hiding, Kiehle beautifully shows the pain and sadness and uncertainty of Elder Thomas. Like Chin, he has been so well directed by May that his natural acting abilities and his ease in portraying this character come vibrantly alive. Johanna Carlisle has less than ten minutes of stage time as Charlie's ex-wife Mary yet she manages to get across many facets of this character, mainly with just a look, an expression, her movement around the stage or the use of her hands. Like her daughter, Mary is angry at the events of her past and how she has ended up where she is, with a daughter who is nasty and negative, an ex-husband who has done tremendous damage to himself, and an addiction to alcohol. Carlisle not only painlessly shows the anger Mary has toward Charlie but also beautifully illustrates the love she still has for him. There is one moment where she goes from hating him to loving him and back again in just a few seconds that is flawlessly executed and directed. Carlisle conveys Mary as a firecracker ready to explode until the consumption of almost an entire bottle of alcohol douses the flame, yet underneath we still know there is a spark simmering, waiting to detonate. Director May brilliantly focuses his actors to bring these multi-dimensional characters to life and, like Hunter, he doesn't force any pre-conceived notions on us. He and Dering could easily have painted Charlie as more of a monster and less compassionate than they have. He knows how to effectively let the humor in the play break the dramatic moments so it grows organically out of the situations on hand. May's direction is unpretentious and compassionate, just like Charlie. Creative elements are nicely done, with a clutter-filled apartment set by Eric Beeck that paints the perfect picture of Charlie's sheltered life as well as his predicament. Daniel Chihuahua's costume designs are character appropriate, especially Charlie's sweat-stained sweatshirt and pants. B. Reeves' Fat Suit design for Charlie is flawless, engulfing Dering but still allowing him to fully convey the suffering of the character. Joey Trahan's sound design of the aforementioned sounds of water and waves crashing is a nice touch, and Ellen Bone's lighting plot effectively shows the various times of day. Originally presented Off Broadway without an intermission, the inclusion of one for this production gives a nice breather for the audience and for Dering, who is basically on stage the entire play. There are many things woven throughout The Whale, including references to the aforementioned novel "Moby Dick" and the Bible story of "Jonah and the Whale" as well as a keen sense of urgency to get answers to questions and sew up estranged relationships. It covers issues between children and parents, the high price of over eating, and the high cost of health care, how religion is sometimes detrimental to a person's existence and can result in self-hatred as well as how gay couples are still frowned upon by certain people. But in many ways it is ultimately a play about honesty and the need to get people to think and state the truth as a way to truly connect to others. When Elder Thomas tells Liz that Charlie has asked him to tell him about the Mormon Church, Liz says that Charlie is a round peg in a square hole, he just doesn't fit in the Mormon Church. Every character in this play is a round peg unable to fit in the square hole of the world they should belong to. In many ways, these five dysfunctional individuals are all somewhat beached whales in how they are disconnected, cut-off and removed from the worlds they came from and how Charlie attempts to help them find a way to get back to a better place before his life is over. The Whale is a stunning, hypnotic play and the Stray Cat Theatre production is superb with perfect direction, an excellent cast and a mesmerizing performance by Damon Dering. It is a performance, a character and a play you won't soon forget. The Whale at the Stray Cat Theatre runs through March 1st with performances at the Tempe Performing Arts Center, 132 E. 6th Street in Tempe. Tickets can be ordered by calling 480 227-1766 or at straycattheatre.org. Director: Ron May Cast (in order of appearance):
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