“With A Shrug” at FringeNYC 2014 at the Sheen Center Black Box Theatre (Closes on Sunday August 24, 2014)
“With A Shrug” at FringeNYC 2014 at the Sheen Center Black Box Theatre (Closes on Sunday August 24, 2014) Written by Nicholas Priore Directed by Robert Haufrecht Reviewed by David Roberts Theatre Reviews Limited
Nicholas Priore’s “With A Shrug” is a complex script that raises as many rich questions as it answers. Full of intriguing connections and delicious sub texts, this expanded version of Mr. Priore’s one-act play of the same title captures intimate moments between unlikely characters and examines their motivations with shameless surgical exactitude.
Chris (Devin Doyle) strolls into his friend’s home in a deteriorating neighborhood to find the Old Man’s (Bob Adrian) daughter Shelley (Julie Hays) sorting through what is left of her father’s belongings after his recent death. Kids in the neighborhood have taken much of what he left behind. Chris has been coming to see Shelley’s father since grade school: Chris is a loner, emotionally abused by his military father (Walter Michael DeForest) and bullied at school. Chris is smart, gentle, a concrete thinker who does not always “put things together” easily, and focused: he might be suffering from an autism spectrum disorder, perhaps Asperger’s. Chris finds comfort and acceptance at the Old Man’s table and in the tree house they built together in the back yard.
Shelley is shocked to find Chris in her father’s house and threatens him with a baseball bat. Refusing to leave, Chris explains he has come to retrieve something he loaned Shelley’s father and which the Old Man promised to return after finishing with it. And, with a shrug, affirms he will not leave until Shelley turns it over. The item is the German luger Shelley’s father used to commit suicide: life had become increasingly difficult and he was experiencing a rapid increase in dementia. What follows is an explosive exchange of emotion: anger, regret, remorse, and denial. And all of these emotions lead to a place of redemption and release.
Past and present coexist in this play and energize one another with explosive force. Relationships are re-examined and old jealousies and “ruins” are revisited and explored from new perspectives. Identities overlap and those among the living inherit the names and characteristics of those among the dead. The ensemble cast is brilliant, each capturing the gritty essence or her or his character. Devin Doyle is splendid as Chris/Joe and never misses an opportunity to revel yet another layer of his complicated and intriguing character. Julie Hays exhibits a Shelley who understands how tempting suicide can be and displays her character with exactitude. Bob Adrian is brilliant as the Old Man and, with the wink of an eye or the quick turn of his head, embraces the soul of the aging father who sees in Chris not just the image of his son Joe (who committed suicide) but the years of sorrow and pain that clutter his soul, And Walter Michael DeForest gives the audience an unlikable Father who projects onto Chris his own solitude and loneliness and fear.
Robert Haufrecht directs with care and moves the cast into and out of the present with fluidity that serves the script well. After the scene between Chris, his father, and Shelley (at Chris’s house), the script begins to weaken just a bit; however, its merits outweigh its weaknesses. “With A Shrug” is a tightly woven fabric of surprises and catharses.
Ruins are rebuilt quickly and healing embraced without much hesitation. Shelley moves into her father’s house in the neighborhood she claims to hate, embraces Chris and even calls him Joe. They have soup together every day and embrace the future with hope. Chris’s father does a one eighty and softens up. And the gentle spirit of the Old Man hovers in the wings.
WITH A SHRUG
“With A Shrug” is presented by Prior Projections in Association with The Present Company (Elena K. Holy, Producing Artistic Director). Directed by Robert Haufrecht.
The cast of “With A Shrug” includes Bob Adrian, Walter Michael DeForest, Devin Doyle, and Julie Hays.
For performance schedule, ticketing information and more information about the presenting company, please visit www.FringeNYC.org. For mobile ticketing, please visit www.FringeonTheFly.com. The running time is 1 hour and 15 minutes with no intermission.
Permalink | Posted by David Roberts on Wednesday, August 20, 2014
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