REVIEW:
'Long Day's Journey Into Night'
Planet Ant Theatre, 2357 Caniff, Hamtramck. Thu.-Sun., through Nov. 18. Tickets: $15. For information: 313-365-4948 or http://www.planetant.com
After a couple of very entertaining seasons producing original comedies and works by noted modern-day playwrights, Hamtramck's Planet Ant Theatre opened its tenth anniversary season this past weekend with one of the Great American Classics, Eugene O'Neill's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, "Long Day's Journey Into Night." It was a brave choice, since many theaters – and theatergoers – are intimidated by its almost four-hour running time. But not the Ant. And as Andrew Huff's powerful production proves, there's still plenty of life left in this vintage masterpiece – thanks not only to some mighty fine acting, but also to the intimate setting in which it is staged.
Written in 1941 but not produced until 1956 – about three year's after the playwright's death – O'Neill's autobiographical tale takes place on a single day in August 1912 in the summer home of the Tyrone family. A happy family this is not, as everyone seems obsessed with dredging up – and blaming each other for – sins both current and long past. "That's what makes it so hard," a sad and lonely Mary, the family matriarch (played by Nancy-Elizabeth Kammer) says with regret about her life. "We can't forget."
And what an understatement that turns out to be!
The tragedy begins as the family suspects that the convent-educated Mary has had yet another setback in her long battle with heroin addiction that began following complications related to the birth of her third and youngest son, Edmund (Chris Roady). Edmund, too, has a problem: The bad, summer cold he's been fighting just might be consumption – a form of tuberculosis – and everyone's afraid the news might drive the self-delusional Mary deeper into drug use. And both recoveries are jeopardized by tightfisted patriarch James (Alan Madlane), a retired, but once renowned actor who never met a bad property investment he didn't love – and who always cries poormouth to the town's doctors to get the cheapest medical help possible.
No one in the family is a saint, of course, including eldest son Jamie (Darrell Glasgow) who threw away a promising stage career to alcohol and prostitutes. The current family crises, however, have brought long simmering and repressed emotions to the surface, and no one escapes unscathed.
And that includes the audience. Whereas "Journey" is usually staged in much larger spaces, the sad and tragic tale of the Tyrone family becomes much more powerful at the Ant because of its intimate setting. No longer are we casual onlookers; instead, we're thrust emotionally into the story – whether we want to be or not – since we're at most only a few feet from the actors.
Such proximity can be problematic for actors used to playing to the faraway back wall, but Huff and his actors work hard at revealing the script's emotional highs and lows in a much more natural and realistic manner.
Plus, given its extraordinary length, Huff – making his professional directorial debut – succeeds quite well at pacing the show so that the exhaustion you feel at the end of the performance is emotional, not physical.
Performances are all top-rate. Kammer is a master at using her face, eyes and hands to subtly convey Mary's ever-changing emotional state. And Tamam Tayeh brings much needed comic relief as the family maid, Cathleen.
But it's Glasgow, Madlane and Roady who have the show's tastiest moments.
Madlane – who doesn't quite make me believe that James was once an amazing actor and matinee idol – has an incredible moment in Act 4 when he's verbally pounded into speechless submission by an enraged Edmund.
And later, Glasgow's poignant, volatile and intensely emotional revelation to his younger brother – and Roady's stunned reaction to it – is one of the finest moments so far this season on any stage.
