Review: Milwaukee Rep Stages Beautiful, Breathtaking OF MICE AND MEN

In a beautiful, breathtaking evening at Milwaukee Rep, Artistic Director Mark Clements reprises his critically acclaimed production Of Mice and Men. On stage, Todd Edward Ivins' elegant, grand set design creates a wooden bunkhouse where shadows flow onto the stage and complements Jesse Klug's sensual lighting. These technical elements elevate John Steinbeck's bindlestiffs and ranch hands set in 1935 California that represent humanity's great struggles to connect to another human being and achieve lofty if sometimes, unattainable dreams.

In the opening scenes, Klug's lighting and Clement's direction silhouettes two men walking through a luminous sunset towards their new ranch. George and Lenny, Jonathan Wainwright and Scott Greer, capture Steinbeck's now iconic characters with pathos and decided warmth tinged with common humor. Greer worked with Clements on a previous production, and his portrayal of the mentally challenged Lenny serves up a captivating picture of the challenges these men and women faced in the early 20th century, which Wainwright resonates with in every scene. The indomitable duo shakes deep emotions from the audience while the play catapults to an inevitable ending, where Lenny is unable to control his great strength, and the people surrounding him misunderstand how to help him because he is valued only for that quality.

James Pickering's brilliant stage presence solidifies the main trio in the role of the aged, one-handed worker named Candy, almost as useless as the old sheep dog he lovingly walks with a rope, While radiating Candy's frustration with their fate, his and his dog's, Pickering's profound command of his character comes alive when he's included in George and Lenny's vision of "living off the fat of the land," or their elusive American Dream. When these three realize their little plot of land where they can each have a room of their own, wash dishes, and sit by the fire at night might become a reality, Pickering mesmerizes the audience.

An equally accomplished cast includes Chiké Johnson's Crooks, the sequestered black man living in the barn with a disfigured back, a menacing Boss, Jonathan Gillard Daly, Bernard Balbot's Curly, James Farrugio's Slim, a sympathetic mule skinner, and two other ranch hands, Riley O'Toole's Whit, and Sean Patrick Fawcett's Carlson. Special notice to Kelley Faulkner's nameless character, Curley's wife, the lone women wishing for someone to talk to because ranch life leaves her lonely, too, despite her warm home and hearth. Where did women belong in the broken western world of migrant workers, where did they go beside working in the cat houses when the crew went to town?

At the Rep in Depth before the performance, Johnson mentioned Steinbeck wrote to "help men (and women) understand each other, because if you understand each other, you will be kind to one another." In this novella, Steinbeck's last scene illustrates a difficult kindness, the toughest love George bestows on Lenny. While their pursuit of their American Dream ends in that moment, Clements has Wainwright walk off the stage, a solitary silhouette against the fire bright sky, to contrast the pair opening the play together. What is the cost of connection and kindness when sometimes people's hearts are burned through unlikely companionship?

When audiences watch these isolated, lonely characters, carrying whatever they own in life on their brindle, how will they they see the homeless man standing at the corner of St. Paul and 35th Street? Or will this play change their understanding of the refugees running from war zones in search of a better life, holding their meager dreams dear, to earn $50.00 for a warm meal and new mittens? Will they seek to acknowledge and assist a younger person of color needing direction for a future? Or will they be kinder to a person with compromised physical or mental challenges? While Steinbeck's characters all appear broken---puppies, mice and men---either emotionally, physically or mentally, today that brokenness and loneliness appear more rampant than in 1935. One recent economic study designated that one half of the world's wealth is held by a mere handful of people. In the future, how many people will be carrying contemporary backpacks or become metaphorical bindlestiff's looking for their better life?

Clement's captivating and eloquent Of Mice and Men reinforces Milwaukee Rep as a centerpiece of America's regional theater. Opening night audience's applauded the production, visibly moved by the culmination of acting and theater technicians' beautiful talents. A night where audiences can leave the theater asking themselves one question to contemplate: How can I better understand another person and be kind to my fellow humans in this uncertain journey called living ordinary life?

Milwaukee Rep presents John Steinbeck's classic OF MICE AND MEN directed by Artistic Director Mark Clements in the Quadracci Powerhouse at the Patty and Jay Baker Theater Complex through February 21. For further information, special programming or tickets, please call: 414.224.9490 or www.MilwaukeeRep.com

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