For Better or Worse in "Katie Roche"

Patrick Fitzgerald, Jon Fletcher, Margaret Daly, Wrenn Schmidt in Teresa Deevy's  "Katie Roche" in a
photo by Richard Termine

Irish playwright Teresa Deevy was a master of middle-class parlor-room dramas.

"Katie Roche," at the Mint Theatre throough March 24th, is about a young serving girl who marries the master of the househould. Like most of Deevy's characters, Katie (Wrenn Schmidt) aspires to better herself. She's sure she comes from "grand people" and it is her cockiness that Stanislaus Gregg (Patrick Fitzgerald) finds most appealing. Stan also has aspirations; he believes that marrying will help his career.

Wrenn Schmidt as Katie in "Katie Roche." Photo by Richard Termine.

Katie's ascent from housemaid to mistress of the house does not go smoothly, of course. Amelia Gregg  (Margaret Daly), Stan's sister is kind. On the other hand, their married sibling, Margaret Drybone (Fiana Toibin) is a meddling gossip. It's Katie, however, who is her own worst enemy, flirting with Michael Maguire (Jon Fletcher) and with disaster.

Jon Fletcher as Michael with Wrenn Schmidt as Katie. Photo by Richard Termine. 

 Deevy's gentle, well-mannered comedy gets off to a slow start in the first act, but then quickly finds its pace.

Wrenn Schmidt, as the headstrong Katie, Margaret Daly as her sweet employer turned sister-in-law, and Jon Fletcher as the charming working man who loses out on Katie's affections are stand-outs in this nice ensemble. Jonathan Banks knows how to direct an old-fashioned story for the maximum pleasure of its viewers.

Teresa Deevy's "Katie Roche" celebrate the ordinary, making it extraordinary. "Katie Roche" is a lovely evening (or afternoon, for that matter) in the theater.

To find out more about  "Katie Roche," The Mint Theatre, and the Deevy Project, please go to http://minttheater.org/.

 

Setting Hillside Fires

Theo Stockman as Danny Mueller and Gordon Clapp as his Pop, Emil in David Rabe’s “An Early History of Fire.” Photo © Monique Carboni.

Watching things burn has an almost universal fascination. In "An Early History of Fire," at The New Group at Theatre Row through May 26th, Danny Mueller (Theo Stockman) and his friends Terry (Jonny Orsini) and Jake (Dennis Staroselsky) have graduated from setting fires on the hillside to blue collar jobs in their small mid-western hometown.

Jake is a disgruntled, misogynistic bully. Terry reflects his sweetness on everyone. "This is a nice town," he tells Danny, "with nice people in it. Why would you want to leave?" Danny yearns to escape from the town and his Pop, Emil's, (Gordon Clapp) household where he feels like the family drudge.

Devin Ratray as Benji and Gordon Clapp as Emil in David Rabe’s “An Early History of Fire.” Photo © Monique Carboni.

Emil is a self-aggrandizing narcissist, who is dependent on Danny since he lost his menial job. His ego is buoyed by the mentally challenged Benji (Devin Ratray) who doggedly accompanies in his idleness. Danny rejects his father's conventional suggestion that he finish college as a way out.

Danny is ambivalent about the rich college girl, Karen Edwards (Claire van der Boom), who fulfils his dreams of aspiration. He is both attracted and repelled by the genteel. Nonetheless, Karen and Danny get each other, even though he is not as simple as she wished when they first met.

Theo Stockman as Danny, Claire van der Boom as Karen, Jonny Orsini as Terry and Dennis Staroselsky as Jake in David Rabe’s “An Early History of Fire.” Photo © Monique Carboni

Karen, apparently an avid reader, quotes Kerouac, Salinger, and a little Ginsberg. She was looking for a bit of Lady Chatterley's experience with someone with "a strong back and a weak mind," she says. She is his ticket out even if he is only a diversion for her.

Theo Stockman as Danny, Dennis Staroselsky as Jake, Erin Darke as Shirley, Jonny Orsini as Terry and Claire van der Boom as Karen, in David Rabe’s “An Early History of Fire.” Photo © Monique Carboni

The atmosphere in "An Early History of Fire," is not especially heated. There are confrontations but their intensity is banked, and they are not full-out battles. The actors all encapsulate the thin distinctions of class in an era in small-town 1960s on the brink of monumental change.

Stockman's Danny is stolid, stumbling on a path that may give him the future for which he hopes. It's Staroselsky's Jake whose character is most combustible, hiding his sense of inferiority and misogyny behind a rakish charm. Gordon Clapp plays an Emil who has a capacity to disappoint anyone who relies on him.

Everyone in the fine cast treats the material in Rabe's excellent new play tenderly. For more information and a schedule of performances, visit www.thenewgroup.org