Intimate, Intense Orphans

THEATER

Orphans

by Lyle Kessler

directed by Eric Engel

presented by the Nora Theatre Company

at the Theatre at the Union

through January 30

The Nora Theatre Company's production of Orphans, which premiered last week at the Union, managed to bring real dramatic tension to a building more often the site of food-fights than good theater. Featuring a small cast, a dynamic set and an unusual musical score by Pat Metheny, Orphans skilfully depicts the emotional turmoil of its three characters, slipping only occasionally into melodrama.

Set in an apartment in North Philadelphia with the city's jagged skyline pointing up behind, Orphans traces the lives of Treat (Joe Pacheco) and Phillip (Steven Longmuir), two orphaned brothers in their 20s. Treat, a petty crook with violent tendencies, has kept his simple-minded younger brother Phillip alone in the house for years. Phillip's combination of childlike ignorance and unnerving acuity is at once beguiling and somewhat unbelievable.

Life in the apartment changes when Treat decides to kidnap a well-dressed drunk, but Harold (Ted Kazanoff), also an orphan, turns out to be a professional gangster with a taste for whisky who has fled trouble in Chicago.

All three roles have a taint of cliche: petty crook, idiot savant and mobster. What saves Orphans itself from cliche is the level of emotion that is maintained throughout. Playwright Lyle Kessler builds momentum nicely by shifting alliances and unearthing painful memories within this throwntogether family. A satisfyingly dramatic ending allows the two brothers to acknowledge the pain of their lives.

The small scale of the production places much responsibility on the shoulders of the actors; their proximity to the audience renders every mistake especially noticeable. But director Eric Engel compensates for this difficulty by crafting a convincing onstage intimacy between the three actors.

The consistent and spirited acting is one of the stronger elements of this production. As Harold, Kazanoff creates a steady image of paternal authority which serves to emphasize the radical changes occuring in the two brother's lives.

Pacheco's Treat rushes through the apartment, alternately bounding with glee and storming with rage. In several frightening scenes, Pacheco successfully enacts Treat's childish inability to control himself as he mercilessly abuses his brother.

As Phillip, Longmuir delivers many one-liners to great comic effect. Occasionally his childlike wonder seems contrived, and several of his more emotional lines fall flat: "Now I know where I am," he says dopily, clutching the map of Philadelphia that Harold has given him.

The musical score, by Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays, is a nearly constant accompaniment. At times the strong beat and rippling melody of the jazz parallels and strengthens the emotional timbre of the play. Elsewhere, the production seems overbearing: in several dramatic moments, the music swells as a red spot light, apparently connoting "high emotion content," shines down on the actors.

Kessler, who leads playwrighting workshops for psychiatric patients, has obviously drawn on his experience in writing Orphans. Painful childhood memories and deep emotional trauma make the play resemble a group therapy session in places. But the accomplished script and acting ensure that this heavy psychologizing mostly succeeds.

Orphans demands of its audience a willingness to enter a truly dysfunctional family. Those who aren't put off by the intimacy of the production will find it an intense and moving experience.