Petey McGee and Ugo Chukwu (Photo by Jeff Lorch)
Reviewed by Deborah Klugman
Mark Taper Forum
Through June 28
RECOMMENDED
Petey McGee and Rebecca S’Manga Frank (Photo by Jeff Lorch)
Winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for drama, Eboni Booth’s Primary Trust spins a lyrical tale of a gentle, lonely man and his struggle to find meaning in his life. The play calls to mind Thoreau’s phrase, “lives of quiet desperation.” The correspondence isn’t exactly on point; Thoreau was commenting on people who have become trapped by routine and/or have succumbed to the need to conform or live up to societal expectations that preclude their living a happy peaceful life. And Kenneth (Petey McKee), the pivotal character in Booth’s play, doesn’t really fit that profile. For 20 years he’s led a quiet stable life as an assistant in a local bookstore, a job that has suited him well. What makes Thoreau’s phrase seem so very apropos is the nature of Kenneth’s inner life, the isolation of his spirit and the deep wounds from childhood he carries with him that have yet to heal.
To cope with his confusion and his loneliness, Kenneth spends most every evening at Wally’s, an old-fashioned tiki restaurant. He goes there most days for happy hour, where he drinks mai tais and makes merry for hours on end with his best friend, Bert (Ugo Chukwu).
There’s only one problem, which Kenneth confesses to freely: the loyal Bert, his fun-loving companion, is imaginary. So what other restaurant patrons observe when they see Kenneth at Wally’s isn’t two men drinking together and enjoying each other’s company, but a solitary person imbibing all evening, more than enough for two,
Kenneth’s life takes a sharp, potentially downward turn when his employer, Sam (James Urbaniak), reveals on short notice that he is selling the bookshop and moving to Florida. The bookstore job is the only one that Kenneth has ever held; it was procured for him by social services, which oversaw his late childhood and teenage years after his mother unexpectedly died when he was 10. So, with a limited resume, few professional skills and even fewer social ones, Kenneth must find a new job. And – he does! – at Primary Trust bank, following an interview with Clay (Urbaniak), an outwardly stolid bank manager but with his own quirky vulnerabilities and kindnesses, who sees in Kenneth a resemblance to his own odd, cut-from-a-different-cloth brother, Matt.
The rest of the play follows Kenneth’s experiences as a bank employee as he engages directly with others for the first time in his adult life. These other characters — the various waiters at Wally’s, the nearsighted banking customer and the sour-tempered one, and in particular the one waitress with a heart who seeks out Kenneth’s friendship – are (mostly) portrayed by Rebecca S’Manga Frank.
If this sounds a bit too low-key to be involving, it isn’t. Booth’s writing is filled with wry tender humor, the kind that comes from understanding the lonely human heart and the behaviors of ordinary folk who deal each day with the aches and pains of getting by. That quiet humanity comes through in this current production; it’s directed by Knud Adams, who honors the pauses in the action — those moments of sudden reflection when Kenneth stops and takes stock — as much as the actions of the characters themselves. While McKee conveys Kenneth’s gentleness and utter inability to dissemble, Chukwu brings energy and vigor to his wise, if fictitious, confidante; Urbaniak (though perhaps miscast as a former high school football hero) is appealing as a small-town individual who goes the extra mile to help another struggling human being. And Frank is a solid presence as Kenneth’s encouraging new friend.
Not everything works. While some of the riffs Frank performs in her various roles are entertaining — the elderly bank customer who fills out her paperwork with agonizing slowness is one of them — others she is tasked with, like the waiter at Wally’s who always slams drinks on the table, come off as a bit forced and repetitive. A scene in a fancy restaurant where it is Urbaniak who plays the waiter bringing cocktails that he’s terrified of spilling is likewise overextended.
But these are minor blips. What’s more of a weight on the story is Marsha Ginsberg’s scenic design (imported from the productions in New York). It’s an exterior, a quasi-storybook set of edifices depicting the shops and a bank and a church in the small town where Kenneth lives. This is fine for the occasional outdoor scene, but the substance of the story takes place in interior places, in bars, in a bookstore and a bank. These are represented by smaller set pieces hauled onto the stage by the actors and, dwarfed by the buildings behind them (which might have been represented by projections) seem flimsy and devoid of ambience. Lighting by Masha Tsimring does little to provide enhancement. Sound (Mikaal Sulaiman) and original music by Luke Wygodny add far more flavor to this poignant story.
In the end, what audience members at a distance from the stage may wish for most is a more intimate venue, one where all of the nuances of this production, so elusive on a larger proscenium, can be better glimpsed and savored.
Mark Taper Forum, 135 North Grand Ave., downtown LA. Opens Wed., May 27; Tues.-Thurs., 7:30 pm. Fri.-Sat., 8 pm. Sat., 2 pm. Sun., 1 pm and 7 pm; thru June 28. https://ctgla.org Running time: 95 minutes, no intermission
