Review: The Drawer Boy (Redtwist Theatre)

Warmth, raw emotion make for potent combination in this spellbinder

A minor modern classic, is a story with a simple, solid foundation telling a powerful story about the power of storytelling. It poses a very cutting question with no easy answer-does the truth truly set us free? For the two WWII vets at the center of Redtwist Theatre 's stellar production, the answer is not so clear.

The poet Muriel Rukeyser said "The Universe is made of stories, not of atoms." Morgan (Adam Bitterman) must daily recreate the atomic building blocks of the world for his best friend Angus (Brian Parry). A bit of shrapnel in a London bombing thirty years ago took not only most of Angus' memory but his ability to create new ones as well. Despite the lacuna at the center of his mind, Angus unwittingly echoes behaviors from his previous life such as counting stars or searching the house for who knows not what. Hermetically sealed from the world on a small farm outside Ontario, their humble bachelor life remains precarious but secure until a city-born interloper threatens the universe they've constructed.

On a quest for material for a play about rural life, Miles (Aaron Kirby) is a young proto-socialist who arrives at the farm hoping to learn by doing. Initially, Angus lets him stay on for nothing else than it's both amusing to tease the academically cloistered naif with tall tales of the deep inner lives of cows, and satisfying to vent his frustration at the futility of the farming lifestyle. To Angus, Miles is simply a pleasant surprise almost the minute he leaves and returns to the room, and thanks to his condition, he doesn't see them as different in age. A command of "make me a sandwich" is used whenever the reality of Angus' delicate relationship to reality is threatened. When Miles overhears the story Angus tells Morgan about how they came to be alone in the country together, his decision to work it into his theatre sets in motion the release of a torrent of some decades old denial.

is a well-written, uncomplicated mystery story that relies more heavily than some on its actors to engage us in the emotional drama. Director Scott Weinstein has expertly modulated the trio of Redtwist members to find the reality of these characters and avoid any whiffs of melodrama (which, once you see it, you can see how that might be difficult to avoid). Kirby is a real charmer as a young man who is initially comic relief but must eventually contend with a much bigger personality to become the harbinger of truth. There's never any real question that Parry will be brilliant in anything he's in, and he only reinforces that belief by becoming a man who moves from mindlessly friendly to heartbreakingly exposed in devastating turns. In his Redtwist debut, Bitterman is a revelation as the salt of the earth Morgan. His distinctive gravelly voice and pragmatic disposition find notes of grace, humor, and fear in this wholly inhabited character.

Michael Healey's writing in the late 90s was inspired by his experiences with The Farm Show, a theatre collective that transformed Canadian theatre in 1972 (the same year in which is set, making Miles an avatar of their spirit). The Drawer Boy is an alternately humorous and poignant memorial to the lives of these people. Don't miss it.

The Drawer Boy continues through February 28 at Redtwist Theatre, 1044 W. Bryn Mawr (map), with performances Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30pm, Sundays 3pm. Tickets are $30-$35 (seniors & students: $5 off), and are available by phone (773-728-7529) or online at Arts-People.com (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com ). More info at Redtwist.org. (Running time: 2 hours, includes an intermission)

behind the scenes

Scott Weinstein (director), James Fleming (assistant director), Sam Garrott (stage manager), Melissa Nelson (assistant stage manager), Eric Luchen (scenic design, tech director), Daniel Friedman (lighting design), Karli Blalock (sound design), Matt Deitchman (original music), kClare McKellaston (costume design), Josh Hurley (prop design), Elise Kauzlaric (dialect coach), Catherine Miller (dramaturg, casting director), Maggie Mohr (assistant dramaturg), Chris Thoren (marketing), Charles Bonilla (box office manager), E. Malcolm Martinez (box office associate), Johnny Garcia (box office associate, associate producer), Michael Colucci (co-producer), Jan Ellen Graves (graphic designer, co-producer, photographer)

Tags: 16-0152, Aaron Kirby, Adam Bitterman, Brian Parry, Catherine Miller, Charles Bonilla, Chicago Theater, Chris Thoren, Christopher Graul, Clint May, Daniel Friedman, Devon Nimerfroh, E. Malcolm Martinez, Elise Kauzlaric, Eric Luchen, James Bould, James Fleming, Jan Ellen Graves, Johnny Garcia, Josh Hurley, Karli Blalock, kClare McKellaston, Maggie Mohr, Matt Deitchman, Michael Colucci, Michael Healey, post, Redtwist Theatre, Sam Garrott. Melissa Nelson, Scott Weinstein

Category: 2016 Reviews, Clint May, Redtwist Theatre