Curtain Call
Theatre's 'Da' succeeds as a memory play
written with love Fine
cast, crew make an
amusing, touching show By
Paul Lamar
If moments
in "Da" put you in mind of "The
Glass Menagerie" or "A Portrait
of the Artist As a Young Man," it's
only to suggest that creative geniuses ultimately
have to make peace with their pasts.
In this Tony Award-winning play by Hugh
Leonard, the middle-aged writer Charlie
(James Keil) cannot get his father, Da (John
Noble) out of his head, When Da dies and
Charlie returns to Dalkey, Ireland, to settle
affairs, he confronts the ghost of his past,
The play, then, is an expiation of a son's
soul.
Director Phil Rice has assembled a fine
cast and a tech team that lives up to the
Curtain call standard to create a production
that variously amuses and touches.
Leonard's script is well-made. He has introduced
a young version of Charlie (Chris Cook)
who sometimes shares the scene with the
older Charlie and at other times acts out
the episode of Charlie's youth, with, for
example, his mother, Maggie (Barbara Richards)
or his boss at the office, Mr. Durmm (Phil
Sheehan). Humor bubbles up spontaneously,
and the introduction of Mrs. Phynne (Judie
Bouchard) in Act II provides just the right
amount of fresh energy to carry the play
to a satisfying conclusion.
What is it that Charlie must reckon with?
The arranged marriage of Maggie and Da;
Charlie's adoption by the couple; Da's resentment
of the English and embarrassing support
of Hitler; and Da's blind acceptance of
his lowly lot in life.
Of course, in confronting his past, Charlie
learns to be less judgmental.
GOOD
DIRECTION
Rice has elicited subtle performances from
his player. Aaron Holbritter, as Charlie's
boyhood chum, has a sweet laugh of naivete
and defeat. Maureen Neff as the Yellow Peril
is poignant as a young woman trying to grow
up too fast.
Sheehan's wry, self-deprecating delivery
and Bouchard's proper British accent and
cheeriness speak volumes about their character.
Babara Richards' Maggie is a heartbreaking
picture of a woman with few choices: dutiful,
feisty, yearning. Chris Cook and James Keil
play off each other brilliantly, the former
full of zest for the life that lies ahead,
and the latter poignantly aware of the messy
life he has already led.
And John Noble turns in a stunning performance
as the garrulous old country man who has
tried to do right by the boy he adopted.
Though Charlie criticizes him - "You
sat on brambles all your life and wouldn't
move so nobody would take your seat"
- the audience realizes, thanks to Noble's
shaded delivery, that Da's prejudices and
pride and goodness are all of a piece.
As Charlie notes, "A memory play of
love turned upside down is love for all
that." It's on this level that "Da"
- and this production - succeed.
from
the Times Union
Curtain
Call's 'Da'
an offbeat journey By
Michael Eck, a freelance writer from Albany,
and a frequent contributor to the Times Union
"There's
only room for one of you in my mind,"
Charlie Tynan says to himself,
actually a version of himself years younger.
“If I let you out, he'll come back like
a yo-yo.”
“He” is Charlie's father, Da;
and no, Charlie's not crazy.
In Hugh Leonard's "Da," currently
in production at Curtain Call Theatre, the
ghosts of Charlie's past are manifest. He
converses with them, they converse back. They
sit at the table beside him.
But Leonard never hides the fact that this
is a stage gimmick. The conversations are
clearly happening in Charlie's quite sane
mind. "Da" is a memory play that
just happens to occur on multiple planes at
once.
Phil Rice is directing the show for Curtain
Call and he does a journeyman job of it. If
the play misses a certain lyricism and grace
(particularly in the early behind-a-scrim
appearances of John Noble's title character),
it makes up for it with sturdy storytelling.
Once he's let out from behind the scrim, for
example, Noble … pun intended …
comes alive.
The play actually takes place on the day of
Da's funeral, with Charlie in his adoptive
parents' Irish home sorting through the remaining
detritus of their lives.
His mother (Barbara Richards), dead years
before, also visits, as does the aforementioned
Charlie of the past (Chris Cook).
But the play really hinges on the character
dubbed Charlie (now), and James Keil does
an excellent job in that role.
Keil is a studied actor, but his efforts result
in a natural performance that manages to be
full of sorrow, ennui, disgust and surprise
all at once.
The journey through "Da" does not
end with any warm, fuzzy realizations. And
Charlie's contempt for his Da, a simple, some
might say simple-minded, gardener, is hardly
lessened by the trip.
But Keil doesn't pine for redemption. He plays
the character as written and when he exits
the family home one last time he knows his
old memories will walk with him.
Curtain Call has made a habit, amid its seat-filling
farces and popular mysteries, of staging off-beat
family dramas, and "Da" fits that
bill well.
Cook virtually repeats his character from
Albany Civic Theater's recent "Cripple
of Inishmaan," but he seems less cloying
here. Phil Sheehan … who is often too
measured for my tastes … is perfect
as the tightly wound Drumm.
Aaron Holbritter, Maureen Neff and Judie Bouchard
complete the cast in supporting roles.
Again about the scrim. Dee Mulford's scenic
design, especially after Michael Blau's excellent
work on "Rabbit Hole," is a disappointment,
but that's no reason to pass on an interesting
production of such a rarely seen contemporary
classic.
