HOME
Home (2005)
Wolf Entertainment Guide
William Wolf
March 15, 2005
Of all The Actors Company Theatre (TACT) readings I have attended, ?Home? is the most moving. David Storey?s play is a difficult one to stage because it is quite ephemeral and delicate with room for an audience to explore its meaning. But the TACT presentation proved to be eminently satisfying and emotionally powerful.
?Home? is ultimately a sad play involving lost souls living in what becomes increasingly clear is a mental institution. Simon Jones and Larry Keith are remarkable in their portrayal of two men who converse elliptically abut their memories, their lives and various aspects of the present. Storey allows us to ponder which parts they may be inventing, which they are not.
As acted Jack (Jones) and Harry (Keith) might be two well-dressed gentlemen meeting somewhere on a park bench. As we learn where they really are the conversations become more poignant. It is all very wistful, and by the end of the play, they cut such very lonely figures. Both actors are very brave, considering the memories of John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson having done the play on Broadway in 1971. But Simon and Keith bequeath us new memories for the exceptional work they have done here.
During the course of the play, sensitively directed by Scott Alan Evans, Jack and Harry meet up with two women residents of the home, Cynthia Harris as Marjorie and Cynthia Darlow as Kathleen. They are counterparts to the men, although Kathleen has a tendency to be feisty and quite funny. Both actresses are also moving in their interpretations of these women trying to cope and make he best of the reality of their lives, which like those of the men, are going nowhere.
The most obvious mental case is Alfred, who moves about the property picking up and carrying lawn furniture?chairs and tables, which he enjoys lifting as if he were a circus performer. Ron McClary plays him with exactly the right solemnity. Reviewed at Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59th Street.