|
|
|
The lighter the touch, the funnier the comedy.
This certainly is true of "Heroes," a play featuring three elderly World War I veterans who spend their days together bantering, dreaming, and scheming on the terrace of an Old Soldier's home.
Written by the French playwright Gerald Sibleyras and translated/adapted by Tom Stoppard, "Heroes" is being given a vigorous regional premiere by the Merrimack Repertory Theatre. The play won England's Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy in 2006.
The veterans constantly seek more life than their routine in the Old Soldier's home allows them.
Gustave is a pessimist who can't find anything good about any month of the year or much else for that matter. He speaks with a great deal of authority and was a war hero years ago, but we come to learn that he's terrified of stepping outside the home. He admits that his routine is little more than "room, terrace, tepid soup, beddy-bye."
Henri is the upbeat member of the trio, the only one who is anchored in reality and the only one who leaves the grounds of the home for a daily constitutional, in spite of having to use a cane. One day he returns all atwitter from having encountered a group of 12- or 13-year-old students from a local girls school and having been particularly taken by the young woman in charge. He describes her as "a lily. ..tall. ...lissome. ...longlimbed," though she's probably 60 years younger than he is.
Philippe loses consciousness fairly regularly as a result of a war wound. In one of the play's delicate touches, Gustave and Henri deny that his fainting spells are occurring more regularly, not wanting to upset him. Philippe's convinced that he often sees the stone statute of a dog on the terrace move. Gustave has his own friendship with the dog, though he's sharp enough to realize that the dog is not actually alive.
The most delightful part of this 1<+>1<+>/<->2<->-hour play without intermission is the wry, understated humor that punctuates their conversations. Henri describes a lieutenant at the home: "He's huge,...incalculable." Philippe adds that he has "great difficulty in finishing a sentence. ...also starting one." On several occasions, Philippe and Gustave joke that they, not Henri, are the sane ones. And the issue is called into question when Gustave comes up with a far better quatrain than Henri does to commemorate a soldier who has just died at the home.
The lighter the touch, the funnier the comedy.
This certainly is true of "Heroes," a play featuring three elderly World War I veterans who spend their days together bantering, dreaming, and scheming on the terrace of an Old Soldier's home.
Written by the French playwright Gerald Sibleyras and translated/adapted by Tom Stoppard, "Heroes" is being given a vigorous regional premiere by the Merrimack Repertory Theatre. The play won England's Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy in 2006.
The veterans constantly seek more life than their routine in the Old Soldier's home allows them.
Gustave is a pessimist who can't find anything good about any month of the year or much else for that matter. He speaks with a great deal of authority and was a war hero years ago, but we come to learn that he's terrified of stepping outside the home. He admits that his routine is little more than "room, terrace, tepid soup, beddy-bye."
Henri is the upbeat member of the trio, the only one who is anchored in reality and the only one who leaves the grounds of the home for a daily constitutional, in spite of having to use a cane. One day he returns all atwitter from having encountered a group of 12- or 13-year-old students from a local girls school and having been particularly taken by the young woman in charge. He describes her as "a lily. ..tall. ...lissome. ...longlimbed," though she's probably 60 years younger than he is.
Philippe loses consciousness fairly regularly as a result of a war wound. In one of the play's delicate touches, Gustave and Henri deny that his fainting spells are occurring more regularly, not wanting to upset him. Philippe's convinced that he often sees the stone statute of a dog on the terrace move. Gustave has his own friendship with the dog, though he's sharp enough to realize that the dog is not actually alive.
The most delightful part of this 1<+>1<+>/<->2<->-hour play without intermission is the wry, understated humor that punctuates their conversations. Henri describes a lieutenant at the home: "He's huge,...incalculable." Philippe adds that he has "great difficulty in finishing a sentence. ...also starting one." On several occasions, Philippe and Gustave joke that they, not Henri, are the sane ones. And the issue is called into question when Gustave comes up with a far better quatrain than Henri does to commemorate a soldier who has just died at the home.
Early on, this play may remind you of Samuel Beckett's "Waiting For Godot." Although these characters are much more realistic, it feels as if it shares a similar theme -- how life consists primarily of what we say to each other to pass the time and make the days feel meaningful. This is delightful and allows for all kinds of subtle, whimsical humor that calls on our imagination and intelligence.
But later in the play, it feels as if the playwright doesn't quite trust this sophisticated level of humor or our intelligence and throws in several broad sexual jokes to make sure he has our attention. And he writes a long section in which the three men plot an escape from the home and a trek to some poplars they can see blowing in the breeze from their terrace. Somehow this section lacks the whimsy of earlier scenes, as if it's trying to tantalize us with the possibility of action, which is not very convincing given the condition of the men.
Throughout the show, there's a charming give-and-take between the actors that surely owes something to Carl Forsman's direction.
Ron Holgate as Gustave conveys a wonderful sense of strength, conviction, and easy self-assurance that makes his social fears all the more touching when we see glimpses of them. The awkward nod of the head (more of a jerk or a twitch) that he intends to give people he meets on the street is poignant. So is his determination that the three of them move to Indochina, when he's terrified of stepping off the grounds to even have a picnic. His performance is one of the highlights of the show.
Kenneth Tigar brings a bubbly, enthusiasm for life to Henri. At times, he pushes his feelings a little, instead of letting them flow more naturally.
Jonathan Hogan as Philippe is a kind of rag doll, flopping over into semi-consciousness when you least expect it and not wanting to be thrust into the arguments between Gustave and Henri. But he can get heated when he's convinced irrationally that the nun running the home wants to do him in.
Scenic designer Beowulf Boritt has created a lovely terrace with a wall, a wooden gate, and a blue sky full of puffy clouds above it.
Although the humor is uneven at times, there's a lot to laugh over in this show.
"Heroes"
Through Dec. 13
Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Lowell
Tickets: $26-$56
Info: 978-654-4678, www.merrimackrep.org
