Noah James and Evangeline Edwards (Photo by Lizzy Kimball)
Reviewed by G. Bruce Smith
Plays with People and Danna Hyams Productions at Hudson Guild Theatre
Through March 9
Walking into the Hudson Guild Theatre for The Typist is to see a wonderful set (production design by Joel Daavid) that clearly evokes a modest and messy Greenwich Village studio apartment in the early 1960s, with brick wall, a desk with a manual typewriter, a worn carpet, and a waste basket overflowing with crumpled papers. Upstage right and elevated is a saxophonist who marks scene changes with trademark tunes of longing that underscore the mood of the play.
It is the apartment of a struggling – albeit apparently critically admired author (Noah James as The Writer) – who hires a young woman (Evangeline Edwards as The Typist) to type his latest manuscript, for which he hopes to win the National Book Award. The set-up is promising – particularly as it was written by Shem Bitterman, a prolific and award-winning playwright/screenwriter with credits that include his 2025 riveting work The Civil Twilight. Delivering on that promise, however, falls short.
The play begins with the hiring of the typist, herself an aspiring writer who initially makes it clear that their relationship is to be professional, despite the writer’s hints that he might want more. She clearly admires her employer’s past works, but begins to question some of the elements of his new book as she types it. This does not sit well with the hard-drinking writer, and he fires her, only to rehire her three weeks later. Their relationship is tumultuous even as it becomes romantic. Eventually, when the 372-page manuscript is completed, the writer turns cynical, saying he will never win the National Book Award and that he will always be alone and his work ignored. But she wants him to change the narrative of his projected life story, and at the end of the play we find out if she is successful.
Although the pacing is brisk (direction by Jeremy Wechsler) and the actors clearly talented, the story itself does not have much substance. There’s plenty of “writerly” dialogue which doesn’t land because we really don’t know what the writer’s book is about, other than an examination of the failed relationship between the writer and his ex-wife. And we don’t learn much about either of the characters outside the confines of the studio apartment.
Also, the casting of James as The Writer seems an odd choice. While he displays good acting chops, he is not convincing as an accomplished writer or as the father of a 16-year-old daughter. Wearing a man-bun also seems out of place for a piece set in 1961. It’s hard to pinpoint why he is not convincing, but he comes across more as a hack writer than one with literary gravitas. It’s unclear whether this results from a shortcoming in the script or in the direction, but regardless, James’s performance distracts from the dramatic action.
Plays with People and Danna Hyams Productions at Hudson Guild Theatre, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles. 8 pm Fridays & Saturdays; 3 pm Sundays; and 7:30 pm Mondays. https://www.onstage411.com/newsite/show/play_info.asp?show_id=7999 One hour, 30 minutes with no intermission.
