Review - A Small Fire

The old showbiz adage about always leavin' 'em wanting more isn't always the best advice, as exemplified Adam Bock's fascinating, understated and, in the end, frustratingly incomplete, A Small Fire. In his usual fashion, especially when teamed up, as he is here, with director Tripp Cullman, Bock takes us on an engrossing journey just beyond the outer edges of reality. There is some extraordinary scene work, both in his writing and in the collaborative efforts of the director and his two superlative leads, Michele Pawk and Reed Birney. But while the 80-minute production satisfies in so many ways, the text also leaves out too many delicious details.

Pawk hits the mark perfectly as Emily Bridges, the hard-shelled, softie on the inside owner of a construction company, first seen administering some tough love on her second in command, Billy, played by Victor Williams; loveable and engaging as a sensitive lug who races homing pigeons. While the plans for her daughter's (Celia Kennan-Bolger) wedding are in full swing Emily, as evidenced by her inability to notice a small kitchen fire, inexplicable loses her sense of smell. Other senses gradually follow and she is forced to become dependent on her husband, John (Birney), a situation the fiercely independent woman is not going to settle into easily.

What could easily slip into a melodramatic tear-jerker is made more touching by the production's lack of sentimentality. Emily's humiliation at needing help to get dressed for her daughter's wedding is conveyed by Pawk with simple, matter-of-fact resignation. A wonderfully written and played scene at the reception has John, whose senses seem to heighten as Emily's diminish, excitedly describing the event for her. Another moving scene has Billy describing for John his recollections of losing a boyfriend to AIDS.

But the play seems to lack its bookends. The reasons for the strained relationship between Emily and her daughter are left unexplored, giving Kennan-Bolger little of depth to do. More critical, though, is that the final moments suggest a powerful new intimacy between Emily and John (climaxing in a hilarious moment, courtesy of Ms. Pawk), leaving us dangling a bit as to what will happen when everything the play seems to be leading up to eventually occurs.

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Dear Glenn Beck,

So you really loved Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark? Good for you! I'm glad you had a great time and I think it's terrific that you shared your enthusiasm for the show with your listeners, encouraging them to buy tickets and have the same swell time you had.

Except you completely discredit yourself by prefacing your remarks with ridiculous generalizations about the New York theatergoing public that are based on unfounded clichés.

You say theatre lovers don't like rock music. Ever hear of a little show called Hair, big guy?

You say we think having actors flying around cheapens the theatre? Yeah, that's why Mary Martin's performance in Peter Pan is so lowly regarded by us all.

And you say we don't like musicals based on comic book characters? Got two words for ya, genius... An. Nie.

Look, you do what you want when you're talking politics, but when you step up to the Sardi's bar to mix with the musical theatre crowd you play by our rules, and that means freely expressing your opinions and then respecting anyone's opposing viewpoint.

And by the way, they're called understudies, not stand-ins. You want to hang with the theatre kids, you learn the lingo.

Saltpeter,

Michael

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