Review: Hughie (Seanachai Theatre)

  
  
Hughie 

Written by Eugene O’Neill  
Directed by Kevin Fox
The Den Theatre, 1333 N. Milwaukee (map)
thru May 5th  |  tickets: $25   |  more info
  
Check for half-price tickets  
  
   Read entire review
  

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It may be short, but it packs a wallop

Seanachai Theatre presents

Hughie

Review by Katy Walsh 

Seanachai Theatre presents Hughie.  Erie Smith is a small-time gambler and big-time talker.  He’s coming off his most recent bender. He’s looking for the comforts of home.  He’s searching for his Hughie. Charley Hughes is the new replacement night clerk.  For years, Erie has returned home from his latest craps game or hook-up  to chat it out with Hughie, the old night clerk. Erie used to regale his tales of conquests to his trusted hotel sidekick. Hughie’s recent death has left Erie forlorn and friendless and without a sounding board.  What’s left of his life if he can’t get the new guy to listen? Hughie is the perfect ramblings of a lonely old man.

Maybe it’s Kevin Fox’s direction, but Eugene O’Neill’s play, Hughie, has all the makings of a one man show. With the Den’s intimate setting and Jeff Duhigg’s (Charley) physical expressions, this Hughie is every bit an intimate conversation.  As Brad Armacost (Erie) marvelously verbalizes his miserable life, Duhigg nonverbally tells his own.  Armacost pontificates with a powerhouse of emotions.  The grandiose storyteller charms with crinkling muses.  Later, his rants about the injustice of his inebriated lifestyle are disheartening. The role could be dismissed like Erie’s life but Armacost makes the audience care.  We see the vulnerability under the flamboyant yet faded man. Our experience is largely influenced by Duhigg. He accentuates Armacost’s series of monologues with a well-placed head tilt, mouth gape or eyebrow scrunch.  Their interactions and non-interactions anchor the show in human honesty.  

The designers accentuate this tale of woe.  Scenic designers Ira Amyx and Merje Veski create a dilapidated hotel lobby.  Costume designer Aly Greaves Amidei dresses Armacost in a worn but prideful suit.  Sound designer Christopher Kriz creates an early morning city traffic soundscape just off the lobby. And lighting designer Julian Pike fills the room with shadows and regret.  The entire design package puts us in *that* room – the room where insignificant people find solace in anyone that will listen.  The room no one wants to end up in.  

Hughie may be short but he packs a wallop.  It stings at first but then the remaining bump somehow is a satisfying reminder.

Rating: ★★★½

Hughie continues through May 5th at Den Theatre, 1333 N. Milwaukee (map), with performances Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30pm, Sundays 3pm.  Tickets are $25, and are available by phone (866-811-4111) or online through OvationTix.com (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com). More information at Seanachai.org.  (Running time: 50 minutes, no intermission)

Photos by Joe Mazza/bravelux 

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artists

cast

Brad Armacost (Erie Smith), Jeff Duhigg (Charlie Hughes)

behind the scenes

Kevin Fox (director), Ira Amyx, Merje Veski (set design), Julian Pike (lighting design), Aly Greaves Amidei (costumes), Christopher Kriz (sound design), Joe Mazza, bravelux (photos)

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