“Eddie” at the Midtown International Theatre Festival at The Dorothy Streslin Theatre (Closes Sunday August 3, 2014)
“Eddie” at the Midtown International Theatre Festival at The Dorothy Streslin Theatre (Closes Sunday August 3, 2014) Written by Matthew Ethan Davis Directed by Brian Catton Reviewed by David Roberts and Joseph Verlezza Theatre Reviews Limited
Greg (Jacob Banser) is an insecure teenager with problems at home and under a lot of stress in school. His hearing loss requires him to read lips in class – when possible – and when the noise level is high, he cannot hear the teacher’s instruction or questions. Greg joins a gang to deal with his issues. In Matthew Ethan Davis’s “Eddie,” currently running at the Midtown International Theatre festival, Greg bullies schoolmate Eddie (Yair Ben-Dor) who lives with similar issues: Eddie has serious hearing loss and lives with an addicted mother April (Nina Salza) who is also a sex-worker and a poor judge of character. Her relationship with James (Jay Rivera) often puts Eddie in compromising situations.
Counselor Kyle (Steve Carrieri) attempts to help Eddie cope with his codependent issues and perhaps transfer schools; however, Eddie is often not cooperative and fearful of trusting anyone. Eventually, Greg stops bullying Eddie and desperately seeks to befriend Eddie, confessing to him his own hearing loss and matrix of stress-related problems. In fact, Greg is in love with Eddie and wants nothing more than to run away and start a new life with him. This is the tender love story of two apparently very different young men. Mr. Ben-Dor and Mr. Banser are to be commended for their fine craft as actors: they bring authenticity and believability to their characters. Unfortunately, Mr. Davis’s script gives them little to work with.
With two characters so needing to “hear” the chords of love across empty spaces and with two talented actors portraying these characters, it is remarkable that experienced playwright Matthew Ethan Davis was not able to write a compelling story about their discovery of one another’s deep affection for each other despite their backgrounds of loneliness and abuse. Mr. Davis has constructed a needlessly complex script that is overwrought and overlong and includes extraneous (and distracting) characters and scenes that do nothing to advance the plot and serves only to prolong Eddie’s and Greg’s angst-filled need to belong and be loved. One wonders why the character of Linda is needed. Madison McGhee deserves credit for even trying to infuse believability into a distracting and extraneous character.
Although director Brian Catton’s frenetic direction moves the characters on an off the stage in what seems like an endless series of blackouts, two of those characters – Eddie and Greg – make magic when they have the opportunity to stand together and just discover they do not have to be “bosses of each other’s heads:” all they need to do is be themselves.
EDDIE
“Eddie” is presented by Ticket 2 Eternity Productions/7 Guild Productions in association with The Midtown International Theatre Festival. Director: Brian Catton. The creative team includes: Liz So (Lighting Design), Andy Cohen (Sound Design), and Jacqueline Filer (Stage Manager). Press Representative: Bunch of People Press and Publicity.
The cast includes Jacob Banser , Yair Ben-Dor , Steve Carrieri, Madison McGhee, Jay Rivera, and Nina Salza.
The Midtown International Theatre Festival (MITF)'s fifeenth season will include a slate of full-length plays and musicals, as well as Cabaret MITF. The Festival will run from July 14th to August 10th 2014, at the June Havoc Theatre and the Dorothy Strelsin Theatre (1st floor), the Jewel Box Theater (4th floor), and the TBG Theatre (Main Stage) all located at 312 West 36th Street, NYC. Tickets are $20.00 and are available at www.midtownfestival.org or by phone at (866) 811-4111.
“Eddie” continues its run at The Dorothy Streslin Theatre (see above) on Wednesday July 30th at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday August 3rd at 2:30 p.m. The running time is 90 minutes with no intermission.
Permalink | Posted by David Roberts on Tuesday, July 29, 2014
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