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Profundity runs deep through 'Middletown'
(by Bob Ableman - March 08, 2012)
THEATER, BY BOB ABELMAN
Profundity runs deep through 'Middletown'
Will Eno's "Middletown" is about an average American community where regular people live ordinary lives and conduct their normal business in run-of-the-mill fashion.
The only difference between this and any other 'burb is that the common religion seems to be existentialism, and, as we are told at the onset of the play in this Dobama Theatre production, "everyone's eyes are tired from reading into everything."
Much like Eugene O'Neill's "Hairy Ape" (1922) and Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" (1949), Mr. Eno's new play places the unassuming, working-class Everyman front and center. The average Joe and Joanne and their world of the ordinary serve as allegorical representations of all people and all places and, as such, are used as fodder for more cosmic reflections.
Much like Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" (1938), Mr. Eno allows the townsfolk to do their own talking. But while Mr. Wilder's plain-spoken New Englanders in Grover's Corners need to be occasionally coaxed into voicing their views, Middletown is populated with impulsive, stream-of-conscious self-disclosers with no filter and no off button. This chatty community shares every random observation, nagging anxiety and metaphysical thought that pops into their heads, from the play's opening line, through a mock intermission that has them critiquing the very play we are watching, to its conclusion.
The playwright's love of language and penchant for using it is established from the get-go, when a lone public speaker, an absolutely delightful Robert Hawkes, comes onto the stage to welcome everyone. Literally. Everyone.
From there, the play unfolds in a series of chance encounters on Main Street between members of the community, where their acute awe over the vast mystery of existence and the morbidity that lies beneath it are expressed as casually as if discussing the weather.
We are introduced to the town's policeman, played by Jason Markouc, a conflicted soul with a fondness for irony. We encounter a melancholy mechanic, played by Fabio Polanco, whose early failures have come to define him. We meet a disengaged tour guide, played by Emily Demko, and her unimpressed, truth-seeking charges, played by Maryanne Elder and Mark Mayo, a life-loving landscaper, played by Mark Mayo, enthralled by the smallest discovery, an easily distracted librarian, played by Laura Starnik, and several dispassionate hospital workers, played by Maryanne Elder, Robert Hawkes and Dianne Boduszek, among others.
The play eventually focuses on the fragile friendship between Mary Swanson and John Dodge. Mary, sensitively portrayed by Carly Germany, is a newcomer to town whose husband is always elsewhere. John Dodge, a charming and vulnerable Tom Woodward, is a divorced, ne're-do-well handyman so paralyzed by an all-encompassing insecurity that, when tossing a ball in the air, he is amazed each time the ball chooses to return to him. Even gravity, it seems, is a grand uncertainty.
Mary and John's homes, the only two structures on the stage save for some park benches, are constructed of nothing but suspended frames and offer an unobstructed view of their loneliness. Painted on the ground is a simple blueprint of the town's streets. A backdrop depicts Middletown's one monument, but mostly it offers a panoramic skyscape of constellations. Laura Carlson's minimalist and slightly surreal design is perfect for what this play has to offer.
Although "Middletown" is initially intriguing, it certainly has the potential to lapse into something less for those unwilling to listen carefully to what is being said. After all, not much happens in this play, and what does occur unfolds as isolated moments. Characters have no real connection with one another or with the audience. This is particularly true in Act 2, when things turn a bit serious.
However, if you do listen and listen diligently, you will find that this exercise in metaphysics is as funny as it is profound, where weighty insights are followed by subtle punch lines. Whether comic or poignant, what is said contains just the right words and, under Joel Hammer's carefully crafted direction, is delivered with just the right timing.
What Arthur Miller tells us in his tale of Everyman Willie Loman certainly rings true here: Attention must be paid.
"Middletown" continues through March 18 at the Dobama Theatre, 2340 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights. For tickets, which range from $10 to $26, call 216-932-3396.
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