Theater Reviews

Jun 23, 2003 - Destiny is a family matter in Nevada Rep's devastating and fine "Criminals in Love"

By Jack Neal

Canada's most frequently staged playwright, George F. Walker, creates work that is so frighteningly offbeat, it takes a director such as the Nevada Repertory Company's equally offbeat Sue Klemp to tackle Walker's dark and hilarious lines and make profound sense and exhilarating entertainment out of them.

"Criminals in Love" is Nevada Rep's second Walker play in three months. His "Escape from Happiness" was presented in March. Both plays are part of a Walker trilogy he calls "The East End Plays." Set in the "working class east end of a big city," Walker filters his common-man philosophy and dialog through alternating lenses of sadness, anger, repression and economic deprivation with an overlay of humorous conversations between characters that on one dimension entertains in comedic fashion and on another dimension shocks for its bitter and biting social commentary.

As always in a Walker play, every assumption is turned topsy-turvy. The lowering of barriers to reveal the soul-sucking pain of life in a capitalist, corporate-driven age that traps a family's destiny within the confines of its lack of wealth and hope are central themes for the playwright. And so it is with "Criminals in Love."

Junior Dawson is in love with Gail Quinn and they would marry, but can't escape the inept criminality of Jeff's father, Henry, who's in jail, or the menacing encroachment on their lives of Jeff's Aunt Wineva, a revolutionary who wants to blow things up. Gail's girlfriend, Sandy Mills, a hooker who does what she can to protect Gail's interests is drawn into Wineva's sordid business. As is the philosopher-bum, William, who not only spouts Walker's buy-in of George Bernard Shaw's philosophy regarding "the undeserving poor" (Alfred P. Doolittle in "Pygmalion"), he almost makes it possible for Jeff and Gail to escape to happiness, not from it.

"Sit down," William says to Junior. "Destiny as a concept of mind and soul is what you're afraid of. I'm talking pure economics, politics, social patterns. I'll have to tell you my entire story for you to understand." Junior is afraid, but like the rest of us, it'll take a lifetime and more to figure out just what he doesn't understand and what he's afraid of. When Junior suggests to his father that they should end their relationship, his father retorts: "What are you talking about? We're father and son. That's not a relationship. It's destiny."

It's Walker's great strength as a writer that he can lace intense scenes with moments of shocking action and throw-away wit. All of these components are wonderfully brought to the Nevada Repertory stage by director Sue Klemp. Her crisp direction along with Michael Fernbach's attractive and functional sets and lighting keeps "Criminals in Love" flowing from one powerful and engaging scene to another with cinematic efficiency.

It helps, of course, to have a cast that is uniformly excellent.

Jeff Bellows is an intense Junior. Loyal to Gail, clearly on the make for her and stunned by his family's inability to survive with any kind of grace, Bellows is entirely believable. Annie V. Scanlon is an equally believable Gail. Madly in love with Junior, Scanlon brings a dimension to her characterization that makes their moments together touching on several levels: her love and loyalty for and to Junior, the desperation of their relationship and the hopelessness of their situation.

As William, the bum, Brian Barney is superb in every way. Barney brings a poetry to his philosophical utterances and a rhythm to his comedic delivery that makes all he says, whether profound or humorous, a symphony of revelation and wit. As Henry, Kevin R. Molina is the kind of ineffective father who deserves to be in jail. His is a wasted life and he knows it and conveys both the anger and the sadness of his failings through an obnoxious, yet vulnerable characterization.

Erika Lore Frank is an excellent Sandy, the hooker with a heart that looks out for her friend Gail. Frank underplays Sandy in a way that affectingly supports the play's steady moan for the downtrodden. Kimberlee A. Pechnik is a riveting Aunt Wineva. Pushy and relentless, Pechnik is a driving force. After William tells her, "Criminals make no history. They just make news." Wineva fires back: "You dumb ass. You don't get it do you... Here it is, I'm going to give it to you fast. Right now. This isn't crime. It's politics. It's - you know... destiny. I'm no criminal, I'm a revolutionary. You have a problem with that?"

Much to Walker's chagrin, few people do have a problem "with that" - at least really do. Caring is what this play is about, indeed what all of Walker's plays are about. "Criminals in Love" is a splendid, beautifully acted and sensitively directed play.

"Criminals in Loveî closes its run with performances Wednesday, June 25 through Saturday, June 28, 2003 at 7:30 p.m. at the Redfield Studio Theatre on the University of Nevada Reno campus, 900 North Virginia Street, Reno. For information call 775-784-6847.