someone_review

Actors' skills make laughter contagious

Touching performance about political prisoners at its best when funny

Chains hold fast to the legs of the three political prisoners in Frank McGuinness' affecting drama Someone Who'll Watch Over Me. The chains bind the men — one American, one English, one Irish — to the floor of a basement in Beirut, Lebanon, where they are being held by their unseen Arab captors.

Thursday night, about a dozen people came to the 46-seat Dietz Theater at Weathervane to investigate this adventurous addition to the normal subscription series in the main theater. You don't go to a show like this to laugh. But the coping mechanism that Edward, Adam and Michael find within themselves seems to be all about finding an alternative to breaking down and crying. When you see grown men hopping like bunnies, the laughter is contagious.

Overall, the writing by McGuinness, an Irishman who grew up through The Troubles, is at its best in the funny bits, not the more serious stuff. The success of the humor is directly related to the skills of the actors, namely Greg Bealer, Dane Lee and Richard Worswick.

Bealer is Edward, an Irishman with a lilting accent (nicely done) who misses his wife and children. Unlike the fitness-obsessed American doctor, Adam (Lee), Edward can barely do a pushup. His gift is inventing scenarios for the three prisoners to enact as a way of diverting themselves.

In this, all three actors persuade, and Richard Worswick, as the finicky Englishman, Michael, delights. Despite his more usual reluctance to go along and be one of the guys, Michael proves, with a perfectly timed cough during the mock passing around of a marijuana joint, that he has a devilishly keen sense of humor.

The scenario is generalized; you don't have to be a student of the Middle East, past or present, to follow along. All we see, on the shallow stage of this cement-block-walled studio, is the prisoners and their only possessions: blankets, water, and one copy of the Bible and the Quran. What's most important, the playwright and director Jim Fippin demonstrate, is how the three prisoners learn to lean on each other.

There are not any big revelations, but the message still is persuasively delivered. The nature of the play suits itself to a simple production, and the audience gains from sitting so close to the actors in this character-driven story.

I do think the play is too long, at 23/4 hours, especially since the chairs in the black-box studio are hard and uncomfortable.

Still, I wouldn't let a little discomfort get in the way. These actors have quite a grip on the material. Seeing three men with seemingly little in common learn to rely entirely on each other is very good theater. Weathervane has made a smart choice with this play.

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Elaine Guregian can be reached at 330-996-3574 or eguregian@thebeaconjournal.com.