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The Woodsman
Reviewed by Terry Morgan
Coeurage Theatre Company
Through June 13
RECOMMENDED:
“Nothing human disgusts me,” goes the famous quote from Tennessee Williams’s The Night of the Iguana, and Steven Fechter’s play The Woodsman puts that credo to the test for theater audiences. It deals with the difficult subject of a pedophile trying to resist his baser urges and to become a better man, and it does so quite successfully. Although this is definitely a serious subject, Fechter weaves in a large amount of wit, creating an entertaining and moving piece of drama rather than a dull but well-meaning tract on sex offender recidivism. Coeurage Theatre Company’s production is potent, galvanized by Tim Cummings’s superb performance in the lead role.
(With the exception of the lead role, this production is double-cast, and this review is only of the performers seen by this reviewer.)
Walter (Cummings), who spent 12 years in prison for a couple of sexual convictions against minors, is back out in the world and is trying to move forward with his life. He’s in therapy with Dr. Rosen (Mark Jacobson), working at a furniture warehouse and starting a relationship with his co-worker Nikki (Julianne Donelle). He’s also watching the kids across the street at the grade school, where he recognizes another possible predator at work. As Walter deals with society’s revulsion for people like him and his own self-loathing, the pressure becomes too much and he begins to crack.
Cummings plays Walter as a man who is suffering constantly from his affliction and trying desperately to be a good person, and this frustration gives his performance a palpable undercurrent of roiling anger. He’s also very funny in a deadpan, self-deprecating way, particularly excellent in a sequence where he narrates the action outside his window as if it were a sporting event. The playwright and Cummings succeed in making you care for Walter, which ups the dramatic stakes considerably. Jacobson is also amusing as the patient Rosen, telling Walter in a dream sequence, “You think you’re the only patient who imagines my help?” Donelle is quite good and believable in a tricky role, and Erin Sanzo is very moving as a young girl who meets Walter in a park.
Jeremy Lelliott’s direction gets a lot out of a spare set and few props, creating credible locations from performances, sound and lighting. He gets strong work from the ensemble, and his pacing moves the action at an admirable clip. Joseph V. Calarco’s sound design adds considerably to the production, but the inclusion of sad, slow piano music to various dramatic scenes feels like a cliché.
Fechter has written a remarkable play that asks its audience to understand the predicament of a character they might usually dismiss immediately. Though it may not be completely convincing in every detail, it is a fine, moving and thought-provoking piece of theater.
Coeurage Theatre Company at the Lyric-Hyperion Theatre & Cafe, 2106 Hyperion Ave., Silver Lake; Thurs. – Sat. 8 p.m.; through June 13. www.couerage.org/tickets
