Actors Sizzle, But 'Cherry Smoke' Fizzles

Cherry Smoke

By James Mcmanus; Directed by Brett Marks; Scenic Designer, Matt Whiton; Costume Designer, Brett Marks; Lighting Designer, Chris Fournier; Sound Designer, Adam Garcia; Properties Master, Joa Stenning; Fight Consultant, Angie Jepson; Graphic Designer, Katie Campbell; Stage Manager, Vawnya Nichols; Assistant Stage Managers, Christine DeLima and Michela Ricci

CAST: Chris Graham, Fish; Jackie McCoy, Cherry; Joe Ruscio, Duffy; Chelsea Schmidt, Bug

Performances through July 24 by Gurnet Theatre Project at Boston Playwrights' Theatre, 949 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston; Box Office 866-811-4111 or www.gurnettheatre.com

One of the many reasons that the Boston theatre scene feels vibrant and electric is the proliferation of small and fringe companies, performing on stages shared with established companies or in any nook and cranny they can find. As part of its mission of supporting new works, the Boston Playwrights' Theatre donates space to other New England theatre companies, among them the Gurnet Theatre Project, founded by Brian C. Fahey and Michelle M. K. Hatfield in Duxbury, MA, in 2005 with the intention of producing outdoor theatre. Their first production indoors at BPT is the New England premiere of Cherry Smoke by James Mcmanus, the recipient of the 2006 Princess Grace Award in Playwriting.

GTP is a group of young, energized theatre artists and they have cast four young, energetic actors as the star-crossed characters in Cherry Smoke. When the lights come up on Fish and Cherry in the opening scene, Chris Graham virtually explodes like a succession of flashbulbs, pop - pop -popping as his club fighter jabs at an invisible opponent, displaying both his power and paranoia. Jackie McCoy as Cherry is girlish and sweetly coy in her obvious adoration of Fish, with a cheerful veneer that belies her troubled past. Duffy (Joe Ruscio) is the meeker younger brother who also idolizes Fish, yet chooses a more stable life with wife Bug (Chelsea Schmidt), the steady, philosophical voice of reason in the group.

It is impossible to take your eyes off Graham because he performs with great intensity, you're never quite sure what you'll miss if you look away, and he is buff.  Fish is a loose cannon whose trademark is his spontaneous combustion. If he could be categorized as a species, he must be a shark because he believes he will die if he stops moving. Yet, despite being rampantly kinetic, there are scenes where Graham lowers the pitch from fever and capably shows the other sides of Fish. He can be playful and loving with Cherry, protective mentor or tormentor of Duffy, and vulnerable when facing his fears about the future.

McCoy's title character plays second fiddle to Fish, but quietly and gradually peels back the layers to reveal the shattered shards of Cherry's inner life. She "acts as if" life is grand, but her face tells a different story, especially when she is left alone on the numerous occasions that Fish spends time in jail. Neither of them is whole without the other; McCoy physically shrinks whenever Cherry experiences their forced separations and glows when they are together. In contrast to the roller coaster rides of Fish and Cherry, both Ruscio and Schmidt travel more level roads with their characters, but they both find many shades of gray on the palettes of Duffy and Bug.  Ruscio at first seems like a lightweight, but he moves up in class as the story unfolds and Duffy evolves into a sensitive, responsible man. Bug is wise beyond her years even as a child and Schmidt's portrayal is natural, warm, and intelligent.

Cherry Smoke is primarily about the all-consuming passion of Fish and Cherry and its structure is a series of vignettes that take place back and forth in time, between present day young adulthood and approximately a decade earlier when the protagonists meet. While it's not always clear which time period we're observing, an actor wearing a baseball cap turned backwards is a good clue that it is set in childhood.  Also, McManus most often uses the dialogue between the child versions of the characters to fill in the details of their back stories so we can understand why Cherry wears a façade and why Fish is so explosively angry. What is less clear is how Duffy turned out comparatively normal growing up in the same circumstances as Fish.

The format periodically calls for each of the actors to stand alone on stage in the spotlight, breaking the fourth wall to talk directly to the audience, narrating a portion of the thin plot. The forward progress of the present day scenes is fairly cut-and-dried: Fish and Cherry love each other and live life on the wild side; Fish flips out, beats somebody up, and goes to jail; Cherry pines for Fish while Duffy and Bug try to mollify her; Fish gets out of jail, rinse, repeat. Of course, the playwright throws in some additional wrinkles along the way, like Cherry getting pregnant and Fish worrying about being a lousy father and having to get a job (shades of Carousel). I won't spoil it for you, but you can see where this is going and you know it's not going to be good. Fade to black.

The story line is not as much a plot as it is a character study, albeit of a quartet of compelling characters; and while the plot is less than satisfying, the ensemble give interesting performances under the strong, focused direction of Brett Marks. However, they are unable to weave their individual character studies into the whole cloth of a play. Solid as they are, I have one quibble about the cast. Although Cherry Smoke could take place in any depressed area, the locale is the outskirts of Pittsburgh which makes the mildly southern accents curious.

Even as it is somewhat hindered by the very small space, the set by Matt Whiton is evocative with Duffy's half-trailer and lawn furniture, two posts connected by parallel ropes to suggest a boxing ring center stage, and a raised platform stage left that serves as a bucolic riverbank. Costumes tell us much about the characters, thanks again to Marks, and Chris Fournier's lighting design provides nuance and draws attention to the harsh realities of their lives. Fight consultant Angie Jepson is a major contributor to the realistic sparring and shadow boxing scenes. Be advised that there is smoking onstage throughout the performance and, although the cigarettes are not nicotine-based, the smoke tends to be pervasive.

Gurnet Theatre Project's next presentation is The Tempest by William Shakespeare, directed by Michael Duncan Smith, outdoors at the Myles Standish Monument, Crescent Street, Duxbury. Free performances are scheduled August 6-8 and August 13-15 at 5:30 p.m.

 

Photo Credit: Meg Taintor (Jackie McCoy, Chris Graham)

  

  

  

 

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