Dennehy simply dazzles at Stratford Showtime

Tag : Cast Iron Floor

Sometimes lightning strikes twice. It did at Stratford last week.
I expected Brian Dennehy to be great in Krapp's Last Tape andHughie.
But I wasn't prepared for the theatrical thunderbolt that shook thevery foundations of the steel trap they call The Studio Theatre.
Brilliant acting doesn't come along all that often. And when itdoes -- as it does here -- in a fantastic one-two punch, it'ssomething to savour.
Dennehy may have made his major reputation in Hollywood actionflicks.
But the thing is, he has always had an affinity for the stage.
Starring opposite Vanessa Redgrave and Philip Seymour Hoffman inLong Day's Journey Into Night on Broadway, he created a theatricalmeltdown Broadway won't ever forget.
Then, in Chicago at the Goodman Theatre, there was Hughie, anotherEugene O'Neill play that made you quiver.
Well, that's one of the plays Dennehy has brought to Stratford in anew production by American director Robert Falls.
It's thrilling theatre, polished like a diamond, pure as cleansnow.
Erie Smith is a small-time gambler, a worn man in rumpled whitesuit. Shambling into the lobby of a seedy West Side hotel, he'sjust off a bender.
Part of a seedy world of con men and barflies, he spins elaboratepipe dreams. Wisps of blown smoke hang in the air like wastedhopes.
Outside, the subway grinds by, a perpetual clash of steel, sendinga death rattle into the night.
Inside, a dark cavern of shabby brown remains tomblike and silent.Only the whir of a ceiling fan disturbs the mordant silence.
Propping up a solid wood counter, flanked by faded fronds of dirtypalms, a desk clerk stands bleary eyed.
As Erie tries to forge a connection, to make contact with somethingreal in the middle of a lonely, bleak city, he talks about Hughie,the hotel's former desk clerk he dominates in a one-sidedconversation. Hughie, the hotel's former night man. Hisconversation reveals as much about himself as it does poor Hughie.
Dennehy is brilliant, suggesting a cast-iron receptacle for sadnessand pain.
Spinning tired tales, he weaves dreams into a sorry excuse for awasted life.
As the hours wind by, he threatens to climb the stairs to hisfourth-floor room.
That he doesn't speaks volumes about loneliness born in midnighthours .
This is great O'Neill.
It's also great Dennehy.
If he isn't the greatest living exponent of this playwright's worldof petty nere-do-wells and dreamers, I don't know who is.
He's supported beautifully here by Joe Grifasi's worn-out deskclerk in a performance of stunning simplicity.
And the production designed splendidly by Patrick Clark isilluminated with painterly lighting by Robert Thomson.
Balanced against the cynicism of O'Neill's play comes the eveningscoup de grace. A mordant death cry by Samuel Beckett, Krapp's LastTape is haunting theatre.
Like Waiting For Godot, it explores a world of loss and desolation.
Krapp sits at his desk playing old tapes, his life unspooling fromshiny metal reels.
Existing only as hollow memory, these tapes hold clues to a lifegone by.
It's a play about giving up, about relinquishing the dream of love,about chasing earthly mortality.
Ruthless in the way he forces the present to collide with the past,Beckett creates a dark world with little hope.
Dennehy morphs into a hollow husk of regret and pain, creating aman who grunts at life and swallows lost hopes. It's a stunningperformance , one that grips you by the throat and never lets go.
Director Jennifer Tarver orchestrates brilliant waves of silencethat punctuate sorrow like waves of tears.
Hughie and Krapp's Last Tape aren't easy theatre to digest. Theymake you think, feel and regret. That said, they are some of themost thrilling moments on a Stratford stage in years.
Don't miss this one. Dennehy is a force to be reckoned with.
Gary Smith has written on theatre and dance for The HamiltonSpectator for more than 25 years.