9-28-07
Good Acting/Directing in Meandering "Brother"
Two of the most difficult tasks to accomplish well in theatre are to adapt a book and to portray historically accurate events. John Hancock assays both challenges in his adaptation of Sam Roberts’ “The Brother,” which tells the story of the Rosenberg espionage trial through the eyes of Ethel Rosenberg’s brother, David Greenglass.
It’s a story overflowing with dramatic possibilities. Greenglass didn’t get on well with his brother-in-law and probably didn’t mean for his sister to be implicated as well, and he almost certainly didn’t mean for the couple to get the death penalty. He bargained with the prosecution to reduce his own sentence, which, in the end, meant sacrificing the Rosenbergs. But, upon examining the case, questions remain. Could Greenglass, a machinist on the Manhattan Project, have passed useful knowledge to the Soviets? Why were the Rosenbergs condemned to death, when other spies convicted at the time received lighter sentences? Was anti-Semitism a factor? The Brother asks all these questions and more without providing many answers.
In fact, rather than an adaptation of a book, Hancock’s play seems more to be about the writing of the book, as Sam Roberts appears as a sort of narrator/guide. The narrative shifts from his story as he interviews an older David Greenglass to the historical events Greenglass relates.
So there’s a lot going on here, but Hancock the playwright doesn’t do a particularly good job of moving between the two worlds of the play. The action shifts abruptly and no real rhythm is established. Characters appear for one line and then vanish never to be seen again. Themes get repeated frequently and often. The best scenes are between Robert Breuler as the shifty David Greenglass and a dogged Bill Bannon in the largely thankless role of Sam Roberts. In those, we get a sense of the paradox of Greenglass. He contradicts himself frequently, exaggerating and then diminishing his role as a spy, as best suits his story. Breuler mixes the charm of a born raconteur with the flexible morality that allowed Greenglass to spy for the Russians, then betray his sister and then rationalize it all so he could live with himself afterwards.
Whatever the shortcomings of Hancock the playwright, he is well served by Hancock the director, who keeps the muddle moving. The historical scenes may not be as interesting as those between Breuler and Bannon, and they’re complicated by Breuler also playing Greenglass twenty-plus years younger, but there’s still good work from the actors. Anthony Tournis, as supposed ringleader Julius Rosenberg, has the difficult job of playing much of his material out to the audience, but still gives a credible, if slightly stilted performance. Justine Serino as Ethel Rosenberg barely speaks for three-quarters of the play, but in the last few scenes she offers solid emotionally-connected work. Indeed it’s not until the end that we start to see real human beings emerge from the reporting and try to struggle with what is to come. Finally, at that point, the production comes into its own.
The Brother clearly could have used a few more re-writes to tighten narrative and give the characters more to do than simply move through their historical paces. As a director, Hancock does good work with a difficult script. Despite moments of excess (the final electrocution of the Rosenberg’s borders on the comical) he keeps the action flowing. But as a playwright his work doesn’t reach the same high level, and that, in the end, holds back The Brother.
The Brother, Hancock Productions
Hedy Weiss, Sun-Times—“As played by Steppenwolf ensemble member Robert Breuler, Greenglass is both—a man with a dangerously weak ego, largely apolitical but easily swayed by the notion of playing a role in history and getting a little cash on the side. The play, which needs a good trim, is a mix of styles (melodrama, docudrama and Brecht), not all of which mesh seamlessly. And some of the supporting characters can seem cartoonish. Yet the Greenglass character is so compelling, and the story so multifaceted, it draws you in.”
Albert Williams, Reader—“John Hancock and Dorothy Tristan have adapted Sam Roberts’s book about David Greenglass, who delivered atomic secrets to the U.S.S.R., then when caught implicated his sister, Ethel Rosenberg, and her husband Julius in the case that led to their executions. Robert Breuler is superb as Greenglass, and the show raises timely questions. But the script is meandering and its focus unclear.”
Kris Vire, Time Out—“Hancock isn’t sympathetic to Greenglass, nor is he on the Rosenbergs’ side. But this is straightforward reporting, not some meditation on the elusiveness of truth, so the shifts in tone and point of view only confuse the issues. The script’s lack of revelation is tempered by some fine acting, particularly by Serino and Tournis as the Rosenbergs; surprisingly, it’s Breuler who disappoints, mush-mouthed and affectedly smug, doing little to humanize the man he portrays.”
Lawrence Bommer, Free Press—“More journalism than theater, this world premiere ‘spy thriller’ by director John Hancock plays like an illustrated lecture. Full of flashbacks based on interviews between Roberts and a skulking, evasive and occasionally regretful Greenglass, it’s never less interesting than the story itself but, alas, seldom more so. What we get is a family feud that took on national notoriety. Purity is impossible here but there’s a kind of residual nobility in Ethel Rosenberg’s final hours. While Julius (played with honest directness by Anthony Tournis) literally fought his fate, Ethel (a haunting Justine Serino) refused to name names to save her life.”
Mary Shen Barnidge, Windy City—“That said, John Hancock and Dorothy Tristan’s adaptation hits all the right buttons in its account of cause c?l?bre martyrdom, painting us a portrait of an almost-preternaturally simple man, moved by a primitive concept of what would later be called ‘balance of power,’ but content to let others do the heavy thinking—in particular, the know-it-all Julius, whose embrace of ‘spy game’ glamour made him an easy target for the hostile attentions of a government infected with cold-war paranoia.”
The Hound of the Baskervilles, City Lit Theatre Company
Misha Davenport, Sun-Times—“While [adapter Terry] McCabe’s script is not nearly as thrilling as what Doyle put on the page, [Don] Bender and [Will] Schutz are particularly engaging and share some great chemistry… While the show could possibly have been better served with a less literal adaptation, the end result should still delight fans of Sherlock Holmes or mysteries in general.”
Lawrence Bommer, Reader—“Terry McCabe’s latest adaptation owes much to Don Bender’s prickly-perfect sleuth and Will Schutz’s wonderfully game chronicler. Perhaps Arthur Conan Doyle’s most extravagant adventure, this one combines melodrama, criminal psychology, and a romantic feeling for the desolate moors of Devonshire. The story offers a plethora of suspects but, alas, no great villain. The title creature is deliciously ferocious, however. Kevin Theis’s respectful staging discourages any camp overkill.”
Novid Parsi, Time Out—“But during the second half, as Watson travels with the young Baskerville to his moor-set estate and reports back to Holmes, too many details mount up. By the time the cast’s one actress has donned wig number three, things get fairly muddled—and yet Hound has a fairly simple inheritance-scheme plot. Making the second half tougher-going still is Holmes’s absence, removing the plot’s engine; ‘I wish that he were here,’ Watson says, voicing a sentiment we share. When the anticlimactic solution trades in the device of nice-seeming guys who are really baddies, the warm blanket lulls us toward slumber.”
Brian Kirst, Free Press—“Kevin Theis directs this tale of the world’s most famous literary detective with a nuanced and detailed hand. He capably brings the necessary haunted atmospherics to life with a minimum of artifice. He also coaches distinctive, entertaining performances from his able cast of nine. As Holmes, Don Bender amuses with a good-natured pompousness and steely sense of purpose. Bender is well matched by Will Shultz’s eager and faithfully analytical Watson. Bender provides the brains of the story while Shultz provides the heart.”
Jonathan Abarbanel, Windy City—“While we acknowledge the skillful adaptation, the lion’s share of credit must go to director Kevin Theis and his company. They make of Hound more than a mere mystery/thriller, extracting entertainment value that wouldn’t be apparent from the words on a page, in particular a pleasing vein of comedy. Theis and cohorts do this without ever camping up the familiar, easily-mocked characters of Holmes and Watson, or the clich?s of the genre.”
Soiree DADA: Blinde Esel Hopse, WNEP Theater Foundation
Zac Thompson, Reader—“The latest in WNEP Theater’s Soiree Dada series, performed by nine clowns, captures both sides of Hugo Ball’s description of Dada as celebrating buffoonery and a requiem mass. The original dadaists might have scorned the idea of attempting to re-create the spirit of a 90-year-old experiment, but WNEP’s well-crafted chaos proves that Dada retains its power to tickle and prod.”
Kris Vire, Time Out—“[Director Don] Hall and his cast take us on one daft roller-coaster ride, careening from the sublimely silly (the petulant Dadaists fight over their belongings like toddlers) to that aforementioned prickly poignancy—witness Jen Ellison’s aggressive, desperately powerful, climactic counting piece. Those allergic to audience participation should find other plans, but a little harmless ‘in your face’ is a small price to pay for some darn good ‘in your brain.’”
Quote of the Fortnight:
“To the naked eye, she was the squarest thing imaginable, the veritable opposite of what a punk-rock arts scene should embody. But Ellie was tough, didn’t give a damn what anybody thought about her, and if someone took a shot at Chicago theater, she surely would have jumped in front of the bullet. Frankly, it doesn’t get much more punk rock than that.”—from Christopher Piatt’s blog entry on the passing of Ellie Punkay in Time Out.