BWW Reviews: Landing Theatre's DEVIL DOG SIX Is A Big Winner

The trumpets blare and the announcer calls the race, "The horses have reached the starting gate for the race of the season: the Dixie Derby!" The horses (Sam Flash, Bradley Winkler, Travis Ammons, Jarred Tettey, Cheryl Tanner, and Sammi Sicinski) settle into position. The bell rings. And we're off. DEVIL DOG SIX shoots out of the gate.

Written by New York playwright Fengar Gael, DEVIL DOG SIX is prefaced with three horse and horse race related quotes. My favorite is the traditional Irish poem: "A good rider may often be thrown from his horse/ And climb on once again to face forward his course/ Which is how I went forward myself on my way/ Till Christ came to give me my true judgement day."

It seems the most fitting description of the play's structure. One girl, Devon Tramore, is literally and figuratively knocked off her (high) horse. To get back in the saddle, she must learn the true meaning of life. Along the way, she faces a number of obstacles. Some are external, like sexism - the male jockey's spreading tales of sexual promiscuity, minimizing her skills, and likely making more money while doing it. Others are internal - an obsessive need to win at all costs. Predictably, by the end she does get back on the horse ready to face whatever may come on the track and off.

Director David Rainey creates a well-paced story that is as charming, funny and spirited as its main character.

A round of applause for the actors. DEVIL DOG SIX is a race to the finish. Though the play lasts an hour and a half, there's no intermission and frequent doubling. The actors exhibit a massive amount of stamina.

Sammi Sicinski (Esa's Pride, Devon Tramore) is excellent as our heroine. The character's braggadocio and too-cool-for-school-ness can be grating, but the fight and chip-up attitude Sicinski brings to the role keeps the character sympathetic and admirable.

Sam Flash (Devil Dog Six, Gowran Gillespie, Fonner Brighton) is to be commended for his athleticism. As DEVIL DOG SIX, the protagonist's favorite horse, he often carries Sammi Sicinski (Esa's Pride, Devon Tramore) on his back. (Do you know how sad it makes me that I can't make the obvious pun about him carrying the play? Unfortunately, this is an ensemble piece with each actor carrying her or his considerable weight.) His energy does noticeably dip towards the middle of the play, but he finishes strong. And, I'm a sucker for the Caribbean accent he employs so well as Gowran Gillespie.

Bradley Winkler (Mister Emory, Doctor Calder Maywood, Ellis Hastings, Jean-Pierre Cluny, Omer Nad al-Sheba, Vodoun Dancer) has the highest number of speaking characters and does a great job of making them each distinct. He dexterously displays the arrogance and coldness of Doctor Calder Maywood, the maliciousness and explosiveness of Ellis Hastings and the en francais-ness of Jean Pierre Cluny.

Travis Ammons (Ignatz Katz, Bernard Tramor, Perth Dunstall, Vodoun Dancer) and Cheryl Tanner (Crown Ruby, Josselin Tramore, Retama Solano, Chester Blain) are clearly old pros. They give strong performances. Ammons as the idealist gambling and alcoholic father. Tanner as the strong-willed pageant mom. Tanner (and Gael) are especially good at making sure we see the character's flaws but understand the character's motivations. Josselin Tramore is overbearing, yes, but she also is her daughter's chief supporter. Sure she's a pageant mom. But she's got her own skills and business to support her self-esteem. She could have been played or written as the archetypal mother living through her daughter. Interestingly enough, the character could easily be Bernard Tramor, her father.

Jarred Tettey (Sir Edward's Eyes, Inspector Vernon Larouche, Sydney Brisbane, Vodoun Dancer) is a joy to watch as the hard-boiled inspector, Vernon Larouche.

Scenic and lighting design by Clinton Hopper is minimalist, clean and precise (for what I know about horse racing), probably owing to dramaturg Elizabeth Constant.

Outside of the acting, my favorite part of the production is playwright Gael's ability to pierce stereotypes. The non-linear structure. The incisive reinterpreting of the the domestic realism genre. Out of body experiences. Character nuance. Devon Tramore is proof that you can be discriminated against and still be a self-centered a**hole. It's almost as if to err is human.

Tonight is the last showing of DEVIL DOG SIX. Race to see it. You won't be sorry. You can bet on it. For more information visit, http://www.landingtheatre.org/.

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