Craig
Wright has
written and BJ Jones has staged a resonant play about three men with guns, divergent
lives, politics, a wandering dog, and lakeside dunes. We could ponder modern
plays set in sand (Beckett's "Happy Days" anyone?) but are soon disabused of any
pretense to modernist verbal parsimony. This is a story that plays as if
written yesterday, including contemporary cultural and political events
(including vice presidential mis-firing misadventures). And we are gradually
introduced to our three charming local characters Kenny, Dyson, and Graham. Our
journey with this tautly crafted, articulate play is whether our characters are
, in the sage words of one of the characters in the play's final moments
"lost together or lost apart." An artful enterprise and a charming
theatrical experience.
Dyson
(Paul Sparks)
and Kenny (Michael Shannon) occupy the stage first, establishing an uneasy
equilibrium. Kenny, good old boy with his good old dog Lady, who is the object
of wandering concern for much of the play, states the cry of middle-aged good
time seekers everywhere, weekend warriors, with the yen for fun still in 'em:
"We get one weekend a year to be the Sultans again" and "Let's
try to have fun for one morning, the one morning we have left in the
world." The situation of their duck hunting vacation is set realistically,
stated apocalyptically. We're not meant to think of these men as solo voyagers
in the world, but the metaphor could work well. These are at root three men who
knew each other once quite well and have developed distinct lives, taken out of
those lives for a few days on an annual reunion. We know the outlines of this
story.
Kenny
is the true blue owner of Lady; Dyson is a philandering smart aleck who doesn't
really like dogs; and Graham (Lance Stuart Baker), our political success, is
finally revealing his true, conservative, political stripes. The three engage
in gentle ribbing and comfortable banter covering light and very serious
topics, from marital infidelities (Dyson) to a wife with cancer (Kenny) to a
political vote for war (Graham). Kenny has a movie mania and frequently
references the movies he has seen, e.g. "Apocalypse Now" and "Deerhunter" (setting us up for seeing
this interaction as apocalyptic and perhaps lethal). When Kenny then mentions
"Roman Holiday" (romantic comedy, Audrey Hepburn's first movie), we are kept
guessing. This provides a good laugh line and prevents us from pigeonholing
this character: who IS this guy? Graham, now in elected national office
(assisted through Dyson's strategic effort and Kenny's financial support by his
two buddies) and has become a supporter of the Iraq war and of Bush and Cheney.
Dyson takes Graham on about this political shift: "thousands of kids get
sent off to die" with this decision to support the war. Kenny reminds
Dyson and informs us that Dyson was the one "who told him to run as a
Democrat on a Republican platform". And it's Dyson who has the biggest
problem with Graham's change of heart. Kenny sees it for what it is; Dyson
takes it personally (in part because he has a very personal connection to the
ramifications of Graham's political actions ... his son wants to sign up to
serve).
In
the beginning of the second scene (this is played with no intermission), an
event occurs involving the dog Lady. The balance of the play involves assigning
blame for that individual action with an individual gun on a particular dune on
the shores of Lake Michigan, and assigning responsibility for personal and
political actions in the rest of the characters' lives. Dyson persists,
understandably, in focusing his son's decision to enlist, and the reason for
that. He notes about his son's 'responsibility": "18 in America is
not a grown man - its you're really good at play station and you like to
fuck." Dyson's son Duncan is off to war, and the men debate and reveal
reasons for this. Is the son embarrassed b y his father Dyson's infidelities
(other characters reveal that the son has talked to them about these while
Dyson had been unaware that his son knew about them) or does the son really
agree with the politics, Graham's politics, that have brought about the war?
And what really happened with Kenny's dog?
"Why
not give another life a try?" Graham says to Dyson at one point. In other
words, let's try being responsible and true to your family and your spouse.
Dyson notes: "Let's be men and just say that its fun to kill things"
and "you sell your bloodlust like it's a virtue". Dyson (who we learn
is a teacher) reflects surprisingly poetically that after 9-11 "a hole
opened up in the universe where the towers used to be". Later, he makes a
sudden and violent verbal aside to Kenny at one point that cuts the audience to
the quick. This explosion is a combination of what everyone has been thinking about
Kenny's conversational contributions to this point (almost always non
sequiturs) and shock at the intensity with which the character says this and
the simplicity of the words and the clear cutting anger and absolute certainty
they reflect about how Dyson sees the world and sees Kenny. What is true is
that Kenny provides the humor and rhythm and gentle humanity of the play.
Without this character and without this performance it would not be the same
experience. It is Kenny who reflects, recalling an old adventure when they were
much younger and got lost, then found their way: "we used to be lost
together, now we're lost apart." Kenny embodies hope in the human
condition despite a wife suffering from cancer. He says quietly at one point,
summing up his belief about Lady, and perhaps a little reflection about
humanity: "that's the thing about dogs, they just want to be good."
The
design team creates a stunningly realistic piece of the Lake Michigan
shoreline: scenic design by Jack Magaw, lighting design by JR Lederle (note especially exciting sky
effects), sound design by Lindsay Jones, and perfectly appropriate weekend warrior gear
assembled by costume designer Mike Floyd.
The
play is about cluelessness and action and commitment to truth. The play is
about comraderie and shared histories. And it is a lovely piece of art.