“A Number” and “Far Away” at the Gamm Theatre

by Richard Pacheco

            The Gamm Theatre opens its 29^th season with two one act plays by acclaimed English playwright, Caryl Churchill and the results are mixed. While “A Number’ is by far the most successful of the two, “Far Away,” devolves into silliness and self indulgence losing any impact it might have had.

Churchill wrote her first play in 1972, she wrote “Owners”, a two-act, 14-scene play about obsession with power. It was her first stage play and "her first major theatrical endeavor"; it was produced in London the same year. Churchill's socialist views are expressed in the play, a critique of the values that most capitalists take for granted: being aggressive, getting ahead, doing well.

Her first play to receive wide notice was “Cloud Nine“ (1979), "a farce about sexual politics", set partly in a British overseas colony during the Victorian era. It explores the effects of the colonialist/imperialist mindset on intimate personal relationships, and uses cross-gender casting for comic and instructive effect. The play became successful in Britain and in the United States, winning an Obie Award in 1982 for best play of the year in New York. She is also well known for her play “Top Girls” which deals with women’s losing their humanity in order to attain power in a male-dominated environment.

         

   “A Number” was written when cloning was often in the news. Dolly the sheep, creation of human embryos at Advanced Cell Technology in the US, and the cloning of a kitten gave rise to controversy concerning possible human cloning.

The play begins with a father, Salter, and his son Bernard discussing the fact that the son has found out that he has been cloned. The father claims not to have known this and claims that a hospital must have stolen his cells at some point and made illegal copies of him. He talks about suing the hospital for money, a lot of money. The son then mentions that there were others and the father admits that the son is a clone. He says that the original son and his mother died in a car crash and that he wanted his son back so he had him cloned. After all Bernard’ uniqueness has been damaged by the unauthorized cloning. Eventually Salter reveals how so many Bernards came into the world after lying.

Artistic director Tony Estrella is deft and acute as Bernard, managing a variety of different gestures and character traits as well as costume changes for each of the different Bernards. It is a skilled performance that is very impressive.

Jim O’Brien is his father, Salter. O’Brien does a wonderful job as the man caught up in guilt over his past decisions and troubled over the current results.

It is directed by Judith Swift with dexterity and flair.

However the play falls a bit flat with the climax faltering, almost cast aside.

“Far Away,” directed by Estrella starts off very promising and falls apart at the end into silliness and self indulgence. It opens with a sense of menace and fear at the Harper house where a young Joan awakens to a nightmare which turns out to be real and true of beatings, blood and pain galore.  It is grim and darkly disturbing. Then we proceed to a scene years later where Joan is grown and

she creates hats for parades of prisoners who are executed. The winning hats go into a museum while the others are buried with the prisoners. Joan develops a relationship with a man who works there, Todd, who is concerned about the corruption in the factory and low wages. This too is disturbing. In this world plants, animals and humans battle each other with shifting allegiances and loyalties.

But it all falls apart in the final scene back at the Harper house where it takes a turn for the silly and the self indulgent. It loses all impact there and becomes ridiculous when there are comments like “The mallards are on the side of the elephants and the Koreans" or “The elephants end up going over to the Dutch, and the Latvians are sending pigs to Sweden.” Get over it already. Enough.

The acting however is excellent which only makes the ridiculousness of the play more obvious. Lauren Durkin is fetching as young Joan, innocent, wide eyed, caught up in a nightmare that turns out to be real. It is a delightful performance, full of verve and nuance.

Casey Seymour Kim is her aunt Harper, who deftly manages to invent new stories every time young Joan comes up with some new twist to her disturbing nightmare.. She is fast and furious in her denials of wrongdoing on the part of Joan’s uncle. Kim is terrific, ably jumping between explanations with skill and finesse, full of sincerity. When the play turns silly at the end however it makes her acting seem false, but it is the material.

Marianna Bassham is the adult Joan. She is a talented hat maker full of dedication and passion for her work. She is a bit naïve about the business she is in and finds herself attracted to her more experienced co worker, Todd. It is a smooth and polished performance, full of nuances.

Alexander Platt is Todd, a man who is disenchanted with the working conditions of his industry and the corruption he sees and wants to speak out against it, take a stand. He is determined and attracted to Joan, does what he can to get closer to her. Platt is solid in the role, full of polish and conviction, sincere all the way through.

Director Estrella does the best he can with the play, which is the main obstacle here. His actors work well together when the play gives them something to work with.

The set by Michael McGarty is clever and sparse, but very effective, able to shift to the plays demand with relative ease. The millinery design by David T. Howard is stunning and highly effective.  The Amanda Dowling Carney costumes are effective.

It continues until October 13^th. Tickets are $36 and $45, depending on the day and time. For tickets, call the box office at 401-723-4266 or gammtheatre.org