Fringe: His Greatness: The Glass Menage A Trois
By: Duncan Pflaster Aug. 23, 2009
Daniel MacIvor's new play His Greatness is, according to the program, "Inspired by a potentially true story about playwright Tennessee Williams". The characters are never named in the script or program, merely referred to as The Playwright (Peter Goldfarb), the Assistant (Dan Domingues), and The Young Man (Michael Busillo). It's set in the declining years of The Playwright's life- he and his long-suffering Assistant have gone to Canada to work on a revised production of one of his plays (which one is never mentioned in the script), and they hire an escort for opening night. The Young Man is beautiful but dumb, though surprisingly good at manipulation. The tensions between Playwright and Assistant are exacerbated by The Young Man's presence, leading to a confrontation. The play is very well-written (aside from some idioms which seem out of place for the time period), and full of excellently realized characters.
Tom Gualtieri directs with a firm hand, drawing out some fine performances. Domingues is perfection as The Assistant, his impeccable comic timing early on making his later, more serious moments all the more heartbreaking; it's an exquisite performance. Busillo is more than just an adorable sexpot as The Young Man- he too gets his moments of comedy, and works them to the hilt. Sadly, the performance by Goldfarb is spotty- when he's on, he's very on, but the night I attended seemed unsure of his lines (with some startling slips which I wasn't at first sure if they were scripted- "razor blades" instead of "nasal spray" and "Maybe we can be- DO something interesting tonight"), and his accent would frequently disappear entirely. Still, it's a powerful performance at times, and the well-researched and produced script is not to be deterred. Ciera Wells' costumes set us firmly in the late 70s, and Seth Reiser's lighting design is worth note as well.
His Greatness
Lyric Productions and Adam Blanshay
Written by Daniel MacIvor
Directed by Tom Gualtieri
Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce Street) as part of the 13th Annual New York International Fringe Festival
Monday, August 17 at 10:00pmSaturday, August 22 at 7:00pm
Monday, August 24 at 7:00pm
Thursday, August 27 at 3:45pm
Saturday, August 29 at 12noon.
Photo Credit: Neilson Barnard
Visit, www.hisgreatnessplay.com
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