Review: Get Happy at GLOUCESTER BLUE

Gloucester Blue

Written & Directed by Israel Horowitz; Set Design, Jenna McFarland Lord; Costume Design, Chelsea Kerl; Lighting Design, Brian J. Lilienthal; Sound Design, David Reiffel; Stage Manager, Robin Grady; Fight Director, Robert Walsh

CAST: Esme Allen, Francisco Solorzano, Robert Walsh, Lewis D. Wheeler

Performances extended through October 11 at Gloucester Stage, 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA; Box Office 978-281-4433 or www.gloucesterstage.com

If you run a theater and want to increase your chances of getting to present the New England Premiere of a play set in your neck of the woods, it helps to have an in with the playwright. Gloucester Stage has been fortunate in that regard, as the prolific Israel Horovitz is the theater's Founding Artistic Director and he has written a series of Gloucester-based plays which were first produced at GSC. He is coming home to direct his latest, Gloucester Blue, a dark and funny play that pits a pair of blue collar painters from The Fort section of town against a couple of tony one-percenters from Eastern Point.

There are a lot of games being played among this quartet, but everyone has their own set of rules. Horovitz is the chess master, giving each player an opening gambit to outline the characters and set up the story, before allowing them some unorthodox moves to throw their opponents (and us) off track. The premise is that working class Stumpy (Francisco Solorzano) has been hired by blue blood Bradford Ellis IV, aka Bummy (Lewis D. Wheeler), and his stylish, attractive wife Lexi (Esme Allen) to refurbish an old industrial building which they own in The Fort. Stumpy brings in long-unemployed Latham (Robert Walsh), the friend of a friend, to help with the big job. When Lexi arrives with paint samples (the color she chooses is Gloucester Blue), the ensuing conversations reveal her simpatico relationship with Stumpy, the width of the divide between her world and theirs, and foreshadowing of where it is all going.

Establishing an aura of verisimilitude, the actors actually spend much of the first act spackling, priming, and painting the unfinished walls and ceiling of Jenna McFarland Lord's set, a large attic loft space undergoing renovation. Drop cloths, paint cans, and tools of the trade abound, with the faint aroma of fresh paint in the air. A de rigueur boombox blasts out the music of Aerosmith, and costume designer Chelsea Kerl clothes Stumpy and Latham in the traditional uniform of paint-splattered painter's pants and t-shirts. In addition to the samples she brings, Lexi's fuchsia sweater introduces a new color to the scene which, in hindsight, may be foreboding, although not as much as the topics they discuss. Bummy unexpectedly drops by, looking every inch the effete golfer who is to the manor born. Lighting designer Brian J. Lilienthal and sound designer David Reiffel provide effects to register a bright idea or to alert us to impending danger, but they don't spoil the outcome.

Not wanting to be a spoiler myself, let me just say that the twists and turns that Horovitz maps out are fun to follow, like maneuvering your piece around the Candy Land game board (only considerably darker). Gloucester Blue is the dominant color scheme, but the schemes in the plot make liberal use of red (as in blood) and black (as in mail). The characters have the chameleon-like quality of changing their colors as power shifts occur rapidly from one scene to the next. Latham is a survivor and, therefore, the most adept at the game, taking each of the others into his confidence in turn by telling them things he knows about one of the other characters. Of course, most of what he shares is an embellishment or outright falsehood, but it serves his purposes. It raises the question of whether he believes his own lies or is a good actor. Walsh is a very good actor and skillfully creates this confusing sleight of hand.

Solorzano carries himself with an air of confidence as the younger man in charge of the job. He softens in the presence of Lexi, and appears appropriately awkward when her husband shows up. When Stumpy has to deal harshly with Latham, he dons a layer of emotional armor, but is physically overmatched. Bummy is totally out of his league going up against Latham and Wheeler almost literally tiptoes around him. Seeing the changes in his character parallels viewing a time-lapse film of a 98-pound weakling developing into a weightlifting champ. He doesn't actually bulk up, but Wheeler adjusts his body language and posture to morph from a timid, hunched lightweight into a stealthy, upright figure facing a dire situation with greater resolve. Lexi must figure out a way to play off each version of the men in her life and Allen's performance has a fluidity that allows her to seamlessly change her affect. She is alternately businesslike, flirtatious, bold, bereft, dangerous, forgiving, and more, but always in touch with a humorous undercurrent.

Director Horovitz does right by playwright Horovitz, pacing the action in real time and ensuring that the actors pull out all the thrills and dark comedy from under every drop cloth and behind every unfinished wall, yet careful not to allow them to slip into caricature. Their portrayals are realistic, evoking the economic disparity that exists within a small town - in this case, Gloucester - and the local audience approved, even affirming the veracity of the accents. Gloucester Blue is filled to the gills with sex, money, lust, blood, murder, and one very good knock down, drag out fight. In other words, Israel Horovitz is up to his old tricks.

(Note: Robert Walsh has just been named as Artistic Director of Gloucester Stage Company, having served as Interim Artistic Director since Eric Engle stepped down last year.)

Photo credit: Gary Ng (Francisco Solorzano, Robert Walsh, Esme Allen)

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