The Gin Game

Reviewed by Neal Weaver
The Sierra Madre Playhouse
Through October 6

RECOMMENDED

We don’t usually think of friendly card games as battles to the death, or near it, except perhaps in the Wild West. But as playwright D.L. Coburn suggests in his Pulitzer Prize play, when it comes to super competitive men like Weller Martin (Alan Blumenfeld), anything can happen.

It’s Sunday — visitors’ day — at the Bentley Home for the Aged. This is always a difficult time for residents of the home who, like Martin, have no family or loyal friends who visit. Martin has taken refuge on a disused porch to shield himself from the sound of other people’s joyful reunions. It’s a bleak place, used as a store room for walkers, wheelchairs, crutches and potty-chairs needed for the elderly. Martin is desperate for diversion and distraction.

When a new arrival, Fonsia Dorsey (Katherine James), comes out to the porch to mourn her own visitorless state, Martin latches onto her at once, and invites her to join him for a game of gin rummy. She demurs at first, as she is a strait-laced woman and the daughter of a stern Presbyterian father who regarded card games as sinful. But rummy seems innocent enough and she agrees to a game.

Fonsia may be a neophyte, but she is either very skillful or very lucky, and wins every hand. This is hard for Martin to bear as he regards himself as an ace at the game. He grows more frustrated and exasperated with every loss, particularly as Fonsia can’t resist the urge to crow over her triumphs. He is determined to beat her, but in the course of several games, over several days, he continues to lose, till he begins to shout at her every time she calls “Gin!” Finally he can stand it no longer and erupts in a rage, overturning the table and scattering the cards on the floor.

After that she refuses to play anymore. She fears his violence and declares that there’s no point in playing if she’s going to be yelled at whenever she wins. He apologizes, promises not to yell at her, and begs for a chance to even the score. She relents, but as she continues to win, tempers flare on both sides, and the competition continues to escalate toward the point of no return.

Playwright Colburn cannily wrings every ounce of comedy from Martin’s bad temper, creating a pair of richly memorable characters by filling in their back-story and revealing what they have in common. Along the way, he examines the plight of seniors stuck, sometimes unwillingly, in old age homes. Director Christian Lebano captures every available nuance and draws terrific performances from his actors. Like Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn, who created the roles in the play’s Broadway premiere, they are a married couple who work together as a splendid team. He carefully rings all the changes in his choleric character’s fury, while she remains maddeningly sweet and amiable till she is finally driven to fight back.

The nicely detailed set is by Tesshi Nakagawa. Elizabeth Nankin is responsible for the apt costumes, while Barry Schwam’s sound design captures the offstage life of the home.

The Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre; Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2:30 p.m. & 8 p.m.; Sun., 2:30 p.m.; through Oct. 6. (626) 355-4318 or https://ci.ovationtix.com/35040/production/996241. Running time: one hour and 30 minutes with no intermission.