The One Good Thing or Are Ya Patrick Swayze?, the clumsily titled drama by Joseph Bravaco, is currently making its New England Premiere at Waterbury’s Seven Angels Theatre. This two-hander, led by a pair of very fine actors, unfortunately needs more than the talents of its cast to make this often tedious play soar. They are trying very hard at Seven Angels.
Set in the present day at a modest cottage in Enniskillen, Ireland, we meet two brothers, Tommy (John R. Howley) and Jaime (Nick Roesler), who are grappling with issues of grief and forgiveness. The conflict comes into play when it’s revealed that Jaime is a ghost visiting his brother for a significant purpose. Act one of the play can be summarized like this:
Jaime: I’m a ghost.
Tommy: No you’re not.
Jaime: Yes, I am.
It seems like a superfluous debate, and continues into the second act when we learn that Tommy has been suffering from severe guilt about his treatment of a family member. The play can be moving in its exploration of grief, the afterlife and memory, but it often bogs down into a series of repetitive arguments. Staged in a linear fashion and mostly downstage by director Sasha Bratt, there’s little variety of movement here and the tedium slowly sets in. And while the original production of the play was produced in one act for 90 minutes, at Seven Angels an intermission is included which only serves to elongate the evening.
That leaves us with Howley and Roesler doing all the heavy lifting, and for that they deserve much praise. With precise Irish accents, the men poignantly demonstrate the love these brothers have for each other and how they have impacted each other’s lives. Howley is often heartbreaking in a pathos-laden performance, while Roesler conveys his inner emotions with impressive restraint. Both actors really deserve better material. Credit must also be given to new Artistic Director Constantine Pappas for trying something different and bringing a different menu of entertainment to the Waterbury theatre.
The One Good Thing or Are Ya Patrick Swayze? continues at Seven Angels Theatre, 1 Plank Road, Waterbury, Connecticut, now through March 22.
For further information or ticket reservations call the theatre box office at: 203-757-4676or visit: www.sevenangelstheatre.org.
Tom Holehan is one of the founders of the Connecticut Critics Circle, a frequent contributor to WPKN Radio’s “State of the Arts” program and the Stratford Crier and former Artistic Director of Stratford’s Square One Theatre Company. He welcomes comments at: tholehan@yahoo.com. His reviews and other theatre information can be found on the Connecticut Critics Circle website: www.ctcritics.org.
