Review - The Fifth Column: The Mint Theater Brings Back Ernest Hemingway's Tale of Love and Espionage

When last we left The Mint Theater, that extraordinary collective of theatre archivists that specialize in mounting first-class Off-Broadway productions of time-obscured plays by still-famous names, they were teaching many New Yorkers that Leo Tolstoy took a crack at playwrighting once with his grim drama, The Power of Darkness. Now they're surprising those who didn't know that even Ernest Hemingway was represented on Broadway once with The Fifth Column, which premiered at the Alvin in March of 1940 and logged in 87 performances.

As the roughly two and a half month run would suggest, Hemingway's tale of love and espionage does have its kinks, but the play still intrigues and furthermore gets a solid mounting buy the company's artistic director, Jonathan Bank.

While the Broadway script was heavily revised by Benjamin Glazer, The Mint uses Hemingway's original, which was written in 1937 while he was staying in Madrid's Hotel Florida as a newspaper correspondent during the Spanish Civil War. The title refers to how Generalissimo Francisco Franco (Yes, the guy Chevy Chase was always reminding us was still dead.) had four columns of Fascist troops surrounding the city while a fifth column was composed of sympathizers in the streets using terrorist tactics to help bring down the government. The action centers on Philip Rawlings, a counter-espionage loyalist staying at that same Hotel Florida, who feels responsible for the death of a young soldier who was mistaken to be him. Keeping his mind off his conscious, as well as the numerous missions and interrogations he partakes in, is Dorothy Bridges, the smart, witty, Vassar-educated journalist in the adjoining room. (The character is based on Hemingway's third wife, Martha Gellhorn, who was in fact also covering the war from the Hotel Florida.) By night, when he's had a few drinks and needs someone to cling to, Rawlings promises the commitment and marriage that the morning's sobriety whisks away.

The plays major flaw is that Dorothy is little more than a prop - a tall, gorgeous, leggy prop - and it's to Heidi Armbruster's credit that she digs up some flesh and blood details to keep her from coming off as simply "the dame." The same can be said for Nicole Shalhoub, who brings believable humanity to her underwritten role as prostitute Anita, a character that can easily slip into being a hot-blooded Latin cliché.

Naturally, Hemingway gives the men a little more to work with and it's Kelly AuCoin's subtle but attention-grabbing, steely-eyed performance as Rawlings that keeps interest high. Continually at a troubled simmer, and damning himself when he shows emotion, AuCoin makes you believe the man's inner conflict of dying for what he believes is good or living a life that can make him happy. Also making a strong presence is Ronald Guttman as Max, an agent whose face is forever branded with the ugly scars of a man who refuses to give in to horrible physical tortures.

A fine 13-member ensemble is granted an excellent physical production. Vicki R. Davis' well-detailed set swiftly transforms to various hotel locations, emphasizing the war-torn state of the premises, and Jane Shaw's sound design helps define the atmosphere with far-off and nearby street sounds, including, when partnered with Jeff Nellis' lights, the regular bombing of Madrid. Clint Ramos' period costumes define characters very well.

"While I was writing the play," wrote Hemingway, "the Hotel Florida, where we lived and worked, was struck by more than thirty high explosive shells. So if it is not a good play perhaps that is what is the matter with it. If it is a good play, perhaps those thirty shells helped write it."

Photo of Nicole Shalhoub and Kelly AuCoin by Richard Termine