FPCT's '3 Days of Rain': Style Over Substance

SHOW INFORMATION: Through April 13. Fri – Sat at 8PM, Sun at 2PM.  Tickets $17 General/$15 Students/Seniors.  Call 410-276-7837 or go to www.fpct.org for tickets and/or more information. 

◊◊◊ 1/2 out of five.  2 hours, 30 minutes, including intermission.  Adult language, situations and sexuality.  On stage smoking.

 

A couple of seasons ago, Richard Greenberg's Three Days of Rain caused quite a stir on Broadway, what with its starry cast including Oscar winner Julia Roberts.  The play already had a long history dating back to the mid-90's when pretty much every actor who is anyone has played these roles, and the play had been produced at nearly every college and regional theatre.  Critics wondered aloud, "Would the play have ever gone to Broadway without such a cast?"  My guess is a definite "no."  And the production at Fells Point Corner Theatre which opened recently under the direction of Sherrionne Brown, and starring three of Baltimore's truly most gifted actors – Michael Leicht, Karina Ferry and Warren Hemenway – unconsciously proves exactly why.  Were I reviewing just the acting and direction, you'd see 5 diamonds up top, but I have to review the whole package, and Greenberg's script is what drags the evening down.  Here we have that most troubling of theatrical quandaries: a production that is leagues better than the material.

I can definitely see why the play is produced frequently.  Monetarily, the play requires one set, minimal set pieces/decoration. Act one requires a mountain of fast food trash and a dirty mattress; act two requires straightening things up.  Dramatically, the piece requires only three actors, so if payroll is an issue, all is well.  Plus, there are several juicy monologues and exchanges of dialogue worthy of scene study in an acting class; I'll admit from an actor's point of view, Three Days of Rain is a gold mine if character study is your thing.  Even the story, on paper at least, is compelling.  Three children of a pair of famous architects meet before the reading of one father's will, which had been delayed by a year because one of the siblings went missing.  That meeting brings about some revelations about how they feel about each other, and what (I think) is supposed to be a major revelation about the deceased father.  Act two takes place 35 years later and chronicles the beginning of the professional relationship between the two partners, and the romantic relationship between one man and the other man's girlfriend.  To make things interesting, the son/daughter and other son in act one are played by the same actors who in act two are their parents.  The set up is ripe for some deep exploration of inter-generational conflict and understanding. 

Alas, the result is somewhat less ripe.  The characters are quirky to the point of abrasive and hard to root for, and though it is realistic, there are several points in both acts where they yell at each other simultaneously making whole revelatory moments go by as so much white noise.  Even the big reveal – that the kids aren't as far off from their parents as they think – is anti-climactic, because just as you are sitting there figuring it out, the character in question literally tells you the connection.  To be completely fair, Greenberg does have an ear for almost poetic use of detail and observation; some of his individual passages are almost Faulkner-like, as is the level of oddity in each character.  But what works in novels doesn't necessarily work in a stage play.  Basically, what you end up with are six odd, moody New Yorkers who spout realistic, but often unintelligible dialogue only to reveal that odd and quirky is pretty much all they are, and what amounts to an interesting theatre gimmick.

That director Sherrionne Brown and her cast manage to make anything out of this muddle is a credit to all involved.  And the acting is so good; you really really really need to go see this production in spite of the script.  You get your money's worth and more.  Brown's staging highlights the constant shift in dynamics between the characters, and even makes the occasional direct address to the audience seamlessly plausible.  In act one, the siblings are very much in conflict.  Walker (Michael Leicht), the young man full of anger, who impulsively disappears for months at a time, opens the show muttering about one of his many ills – he describes himself as "impossible" and, boy, is he.  Ms. Brown has him stalking the filthy room like a caged animal, nervous and ready to run.  Later, when his sister Nan (Karina Ferry) arrives there is instant tension, made visual by Brown's very conscious choice to have the two stalk each other, circling, maintaining distance, that is until they "sniff out" the situation and make some semblance of peace, when they finally come together.  The staging is a wonderful way to visually create individual characters and show their relationship where the playwright's words often fail.  When the son of the other architect arrives, the dynamic is thrown a third time.  Pip (Warren Hemenway) is a good-looking actor on a soap opera that neither Walker nor Nan takes completely seriously (good actors don't stay on soaps, but Pip has no further aspirations beyond looking good shirtless).  But there is certainly tension when he gets there, as evidenced by the quick embraces of the trio and then an "everyman to his corners" staging.  This situation is discussed, tempers flare, Walker, unable to leave things be, digs deeper until a past relationship between Nan and Pip is revealed.  Walker, in love with best friend Pip, is devastated and disappears again, leaving normality-loving Nan to pick up the pieces.  Here, Ms. Brown has Nan end up where Walker started – center stage, worrying on the dirty mattress on the floor.  Act two is similarly staged to reveal the intricate relationships between Nan, Walker and Pip's dads and Nan and Walker's mother.  Through similar use of spatial relationships, Ms. Brown visually helps us muddle through these new characters and helps us to make connections.  For example, we find out that their mother Lina was originally dating Pip's dad, Theo, and that their dad, Ned was really what kept everything together before he and Theo became world-famous architects.  We also find out why Ned was a man of few words, why Lina is a nut job, and why Theo is mass of self-doubt.  Mostly, we find out that whether they know it or not, the apple doesn't really fall that far from the tree, and that parents don't always tell their kids what they need to hear.

Not exactly the most profound or original statement, right?  But the acting that tells that story… wow!  Warren Hemenway, in the smallest of the three/six roles, is the physical embodiment of everything that is described about both characters he plays.  His dashing looks, paired with a sunny disposition and somewhat vague expression make him perfect for a soap actor, and his charm makes it very easy to see why both Walker and Nan are seduced by him.  Hemenway manages to navigate the difficult waters of being a part of his friend's problems, while remaining pretty much unscathed by them.  The almost maddening insecurities and frustrations of Theo, his act two character, really challenge this young actor, and he meets the challenge well.  Through his frustration, Theo lashes out – at his girlfriend and his best friend/business partner.  His tirades are viciously cruel, yet Hemenway makes it so that we can simultaneously hate his cruelty and understand his motives.  That is no easy task.

Karina Ferry, as Nan and Lina, has seized yet another opportunity to grow and flourish in the Baltimore theatre scene, becoming easily one of the most dependable, versatile and talented local women on the boards today.  Her straight as an arrow Nan is a seething mass of anger writhing beneath a thick, hardened veneer of calm; Nan's desire to have everything normal and calm overrides everything.  Her love/hate relationship with her brother is beautifully acted, ebbing and flowing between devastating worry, anger and admiration and love.  Their relationship is complicated (perhaps too much so), but Ms. Ferry is more than up to the task.  Her Lina, who we find out later rivals Zelda Fitzgerald in the loony tunes department, is actually almost nothing we expect given her set up in act one.  Ms. Ferry creates a sensual, feeling woman who maintains normalcy, even as she struggles to maintain a relationship she is unhappy in.  From the South, Lina is all charm and whimsical advice.  Ms. Ferry's one flaw is her very thick accent, almost unintelligible upon her first entrance.  Later, when she sees an out from her relationshipwith Theo and into the arms of an unsuspecting Ned, Ms. Ferry walks the fine line between aggressive seduction and allowing things to naturally take their course.  Ultimately, it is not surprising, though it is satisfying, to find the motivation for Walker and Nan's parents to have come together in the first place.

Finally, Michael Leicht, as Walker and Ned, is giving a masterful performance on the FPCT stage.  He is a one man study of acting technique and the ability to wring every drop of meaning from a play.  Don't misunderstand me, though.  He is not overacting or even "acting" – that is, he is not simply affecting the mannerisms of characters.  What Mr. Leicht is doing is becoming a different person right before our eyes.  His Walker is an infuriating mix of insecurity, intensity and bravado.  His self-loathing and selfishness are matched only by his need to fixate on the father who he feels never understood him, all while trying to understand why.  Leicht's mannerisms are quirky – I can't even begin to describe the way he uses his hands to constantly move and smooth things over, for example – and his speech pattern is equally enigmatic, ever so slightly effete (you aren't completely surprised to find out he has been in love with Pip forever), but he isn't outwardly fey, either.  (And is it homosexual love?  The ambiguity is delicious.) Leicht's portrayal is a testimony to the actor's understanding of how complicated Walker is.  Utterly amazing, though, is Mr. Leicht's transformation into Ned, Walker's father; the father is the complete antithesis of the son.  Ned was a man of few words, indeed, but for good reason.  He has an almost painful stutter, brought to heartbreaking reality by Mr. Leicht.  Ned is the consummate good guy, but is frequently unable to stand up for himself.  One particularly excellent sequence has Mr. Hemenway's Theo in a rage of insecurity and doubt, screaming his frustration out at a shocked Ned.  Theo keeps at Ned unrelentingly, and Ned literally can't get a word in edgewise.  The scene is masterfully played by the pair, nailing the comic aspects of it and equally honing in on the sad viciousness of it all.  That scene makes the subsequent turn of events between Ned and Lina something you want to cheer for.  At one point, Ned tells Theo that this isn't Of Mice and Men, meaning Theo, the smaller, outwardly more intelligent guy can't lord over the bigger outwardly less smart Ned.  Perhaps it is a quirk of casting, but late in act two, Mr. Leicht, in bed with Ms. Ferry reveals a hulking body of broad shoulders and years spent in the gym.  I bring this up because Mr. Leicht literally acts with his entire body, from head to toe.  Literally.  His bulk and what people would assume from looking at him as bold machismo are yet two more weapons in his arsenal that help create a rounder, more full character – he may look every inch the "he man," but what really makes him (both character and actor) a man's man is the equally large amount of sensitivity he conveys.

Lastly, I have to comment on the audience I attended with.  We were a quiet, attentive audience.  I, myself, barely breathed trying to capture each brilliant acting stroke to my memory.  The play certainly has its funny moments and its share of serious ones.  I hope the company wasn't thrown off by our outward lack of response.  Trust me, we all knew we were seeing fine acting, if not so much of a fine play.

PHOTOS by Ken Stanek.  TOP to BOTTOM: Karina Ferry (as Nan), Warren Hemenway (as Pip) and Michael Leicht (as Walker); Michael Leicht (as Ned) and Warren Hemenway (as Theo); and Michael Leicht (as Ned) and Karina Ferry (as Lina).

 

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