When a 47-year-old ping-pong player drops dead at the local table tennis club, his fellow players plunk him in a chair and continue the match. Club member Oscar (Ozzie) is among the few who attend the funeral. The cremation is a catalyst for Ozzie, also in his 40s, to re-evaluate the highly-competitive games and the life priorities he shares with his teammates, Eric, who is in his mid-40s, and 29-year-old Tony.
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Playwright: adapted by Matthew Barber from the novel by Elizabeth von Arnim. At: Circle Theatre, 7300 W. Madison, Forest Park. Phone: 708-771-0700; $26. Runs through: June 8
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You won’t learn much about table tennis in this three-character drama—you never see Ozzie, Eric or Tony play—but you’ll learn a great deal about the insecurities and angst that drive these three London cabbies in a work suitably described as a vehicle play: a great opportunity for actors but not really a good piece of writing. Under veteran director Robin Witt actors Daniel Rivkin (Ozzie), Nigel Patterson (Eric) and Bob Turton (Tony) tear into the meaty roles with gusto, delivering high-energy and sharply-defined performances. The working class London accents are much better than average; perhaps English native Patterson coached Rivkin and Turton.
Ozzie is the trio’s bedrock center, a bachelor loner (the thought that he could be gay isn’t raised) who long ago opted out of relationships in favor of a neutral harbor against life’s emotional vicissitudes. He confesses his life isn’t always happy or fulfilling life as he angrily tears into Tony for screwing up with his live-in girlfriend. ‘She’s the best thing that ever happened to you!’ Oz shouts. Likewise, Oz has little sympathy for Eric’s obsessive and pathetic intensity for table tennis, which is Eric’s escape from a problematic marriage and an aging mother suffering dementia. In a crucial match, Oz comes through for longtime pal Eric, but nonetheless forces the issue by announcing it’s his last game.
Written in 1995, Not a Game for Boys is what the Brits call a ‘laddish play’ and we call a buddy play. Its dialogue is forceful, believable and pungently male as it deals in relatively shallow fashion with manhood, friendship and loyalty. The talk is good enough, and the acting more than good enough, to give the appearance of substantial drama but don’t be fooled. There’s an unnecessary intermission after which author Simon Block ends the play without really resolving character issues or even the story.
Block sets the play in ‘the closed bar of a run-down table tennis club.’ Why? The rows of never-used bottles and glasses only take up room and add nothing. What’s more, scenic designer Courtney O’Neill offers no visual reference to British architecture or London, not even a poster or banner. Her design is realistic and serviceable but could be anywhere. So forget the scenery, but go for the acting and you won’t be sorry.