Actors' connection makes for a compelling show
By Mark Collins, Camera Theater Critic
January 21, 2005
LAFAYETTE — Actors Timothy Englert and Ellen Ranson enjoy a rapport with each other, having worked together in several productions. That affinity shines through in the duo's current show, the Lafayette Community Players' "The Gin Game."
The two-character play by D.L. Coburn first appeared on Broadway in 1977, starring Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy. It earned four Tony Award nominations and picked up the Pulitzer Prize for drama in '78.
Coburn's script contains a delicate balance of light and dark elements, and the LCP production — directed by LCP artistic director Madge Montgomery — opts not to accentuate the darker side.
"The Gin Game" is the story of two elderly people, Fonsia (Ranson) and Weller (Englert) who become friends over an ongoing game of cards at a nursing home. Fonsia, a longtime divorcee, is new to the home, and Weller, a former businessman, engages her with his obsession — the card game gin.
As the gin game continues, the relationship turns contentious and it becomes clear Fonsia and Weller are misfits — estranged from their former lives and unable to connect with most of the people in their current circumstances.
On one hand, the play is about the plight of people forced to spend their twilight days in a place they'd rather not. Weller says, "I just don't get all this entertainment," referring to the constant lineup of choirs, magicians and religious services the nursing home provides. He calls the home "a warehouse for the intellectually and emotionally dead." While Fonsia takes the other side of the argument, it's mostly a ruse. Really, she's as isolated and frustrated as Weller.
However, the play is more than a look at life in a nursing home. It's about two lonely souls who are trying to reach out and take comfort from each other. In that sense, the story isn't tied to the setting or the characters' age — outcasts come in all shapes, sizes and situations.
But one of the joys of the play is that we get a peek into the lives of two older people and see how they interact, what they feel, how they think and why they're not as happy as they'd hoped to be. That's a rarity in theater.
Likewise, it's a pleasure to watch two veteran actors like Englert and Ranson wind their way through Coburn's fine script. They understand the humor nestled in the nooks and crannies and deliver it up with ease. Both exude a confidence and a comfort in their performances. (The two will reprise their roles at the Denver Repertory Theatre next month.)
At times, however, the actors seem a little too comfortable. If there's a shortcoming to the production it's that these two characters are too likable. Englert's Weller could be more of a curmudgeon, more salty and less sweet. Ranson's Fonsia could lead more with a brittle self-righteousness than with the natural warmth that Ranson portrays.
The production never succumbs to cheap sentimentality — Coburn's script won't allow for that. But neither does the show break your heart as it should. By the end, it's clear the two characters are in pathetic circumstances, in large part because they've been unable to admit to their own flaws and make efforts to move beyond them. Their misery is always someone else's fault.
Instead, the show falls somewhere in between — content to be a mostly gentle look at two outcasts, but not willing to completely mine the depths of those characters' pathos.