Patrick John Rivers and Stuart Orloff (Photo by Marty Gray)
Reviewed by Asa Fris
Alliance Repertory Company at Dugan’s Backyard Playhouse
Through August 2
Patrick John Rivers and Stuart Orloff (Photo by Marty Gray)
It’s a warm evening, and there are wisps of clouds in the corner of the open sky. Soon dusk will pass and night will fall upon both the audience and our protagonists, Hank O’Brien (Stuart Orloff) and Otto Heider (Patrick Jon Rivers). The pair served together in The Great War, but went their separate ways when they returned home. Now in 1925, seven years later, they stand face to face, in a graveyard no less. Hank has summoned Otto, calling in a favor from his old Sarge.
The circumstances of their reunion? Downright dangerous.
This is the world premiere of The Curse of the Banshee, which is writer and director Tom Dugan’s third installment of what he calls the ‘Jersey Pub Trilogy’ — the first two being Cemetery Pub, and Irish Goodbye (Reviewed last year by Martín Hernández). Though this installment is the latest of the three, it’s the first chronologically. No worries if you haven’t seen the others. Though it’s clear that Banshee harks back to the other plays, it also stands alone just fine.
The action Dugan writes is remarkably well suited for his back yard which is where the play is staged. One misstep and you’ll find yourself in Dugan’s pool, looking up at a long poster of multicolored fish that drapes the back fence. They might catch your eye for a moment, and so might a Christmas tree oddly placed on the stage, but once the play begins you’ll be whisked away into a tense and thrilling story.
Dugan’s writing is trim and taut and generates enjoyable solid tension. It’s as if there’s an invisible string between Hank and Otto and the lurking danger in the cemetery. When the pair hold the twine taut, it propels the story forward, and they conjure a chilling thrill in the air. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case; too often the line is left slack, waiting to be picked up.
Orloff and Rivers are a robust pair. Orloff’s Hank is the highlight of the night. He really plays around. His Hank is ever slowly shifting between awkward, avoidant and boyish into a determined protector. As is, Hank and Otto feel too similar, with Otto perhaps in need of traits more typical of a hardened World War I sergeant. That said, Rivers sculpts Otto with a touch of gentle slyness that is endearing and captures a different kind of maturity — one that makes you feel for a soldier’s struggle to acclimate to home post-war.
Though the action is suited for the small space, one could easily picture it transferred onto a much larger one, with graves scattered across the stage and a dark house looming behind. But it doesn’t need to be. Dugan’s simple and elegant staging transforms his backyard into a home for engaging theater.
The most striking image of the night is of an old coffin placed on two tattered sawhorses, with the two internally tattered veterans sitting atop, juggling thoughts of hope and despair as they lay in wait for what’s to come.
Alliance Repertory Company, Dugan’s Backyard Playhouse (address provided with ticket purchase). Fri.-Sat., 8 pm, Sun., 7 pm; thru Aug. 2. Dbptickets@gmail.com Running time approximately 50 minutes.
