Jan. 28--There are dramatic plays -- a few thousand years of them have unfurled to date -- and there are story plays. The two categories overlap in that all great drama tells a story, of course, and even your bedtime stories had better be dramatic, lest the honoree fall too quickly asleep. Still, there are some works written for theater that are explicitly driven by the recounting of a narrative.
A disproportionate number of such plays come from Ireland, an Emerald Isle of abundant yarns where the teller is uncommonly valued. And the latest show at Steep Theatre, "The Life and Sort of Death of Eric Argyle," is very much of that ilk. It's the story of, well, the life and death of the titular ordinary fellow, who is unfortunately struck by a bus. It is set initially in a kind of courtroomlike purgatory and is designed to convey the stirring message that all of us touch many people in our lives, even if we think we have achieved little or nothing.
Alas, "Eric Argyle" blows past its most important opportunity to connect with its audience in the beginning. At this crucial juncture, the cast of the piece, uncharacteristically for this theater, utterly fails to command attention. The first part of the show -- which reminded me a little of the far superior "The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart" and also of the Albert Brooks movie "Defending Your Life" -- is composed of direct chats with the audience. It's the moment when the case must be made that we should shake off our cares and give a hoot about these shadows in front of us. The case isn't made.
The main problem of this rare misstep for director Jonathan Berry is that the actors seem overly concerned with each other and insufficiently concerned with the paying customers. The early narration is too halting, overly conversational, unclear. I had a hard time figuring out what was going on, and all around me sat the unengrossed.
That was a shame. The work on the stage does get better -- especially from Pat Whalen and Jeff Duhigg, who play the young and older version of the man on trial. Lucy Carapetyan, who plays Gillian, is good too. In fact, most of the acting is solid, as are the production values, thanks to a setting from William Boles that emphasizes the way a person's life stacks up, over time. The scenes that re-create Eric's past life are much stronger than all the verbose narration at the top, which is an issue with Ross Dungan's script.
But then that's were the ensemble of actors must step into the breach. Just as the character of Eric Argyle has to sell his life, and it is a case that deserves making, so this show has to make its own case for a spot in our hearts.
cjones5@tribpub.com
2 STARS
When: Through Feb. 28
Where: Steep Theatre, 1115 W. Berwyn Ave.
Running time: 1 hour, 45 mins.
Tickets: $10-35 at 773-649-3186 or steeptheatre.com
