Review: THE GIN GAME at Community Theatre At Woodbury

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” This quote of William Shakespeare comes to my mind more often than one would think. When you think of the seven acts within the speech, most of the stories we tell focus on the beginning or the end: When one begins their journey, or when one’s journey ends. It’s a rare treat when you get to experience a tale focused on the 6th Act: A stage in one’s life where your story is not quite done, but you have a full life’s worth of experience to draw upon.

That’s where my head sat as I watched The Gin Game by D.L. Coburn at the Community Theater at Woodbury on their closing matinee. The story itself is a simple one: A pair of strangers at a nursing home meet on the back porch to play gin. The thrill of the tale comes with what you learn during the game; the stories they tell, the secrets your discover, and the flaws exposed. I’ve spoken a lot in previous reviews of “the talking play,” which is a play in which there is not a lot of dramatic action, but rather the drama is in conversations. A typical pitfall of such plays is that the modern audience may struggle to focus if there is no action to go along with the talking, but a smart production can find ways to keep an audience engaged. And CTAW’s production of The Gin Game was very smart indeed.

Directed by and starring Gus Bottazzi, it was clear from the moment the curtains opened that the set was well designed: Not only was the central area designated for the table where the infamous game would be played, but the attention to detail around the whole set clues you in that the whole space will be played in. Everybody worries about length of the stage- can you fit everything you need from left to right- but less often do people worry about depth. Under Bottazzi’s direction, the wall of the nursing home makes the playing space very shallow, which gives the whole set a natural, porch-like quality to it. A small decision that benefits this production greatly.

But at the heart of this show are the characters: Weller Martin (Bottazzi) and Fonsia Dorsey (Noel Desiato)- Two residents of the nursing home with a shared distaste for the other residents and a desire for companionship. Both Bottazzi and Desiato bring so much heart and soul to their portrayals of these two complex characters. As the show goes on and the audience learns more about their lives and their secrets, you watch the tension grow as they try to defend themselves and their actions. But you also see their gentler sides: Desiato’s sly giggle every time she pulls the winning card, or Bozzatti’s calm and consistent way that he counts the cards as he deals. These moments of levity make the audience fall in love with these characters, which more than makes up for the lack of action and spectacle of modern-day theater.

The Gin Game ran from March 13 through March 22, 2026, but look ahead to their next production, Exit Laughing, by Paul Elliot, which runs May 15 – May 23, 2026. You can learn more about the production on their website: www.ctaw-ct.org.