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Dealer’s Choice
By Patrick Marber
Directed by Steve Scott
Produced by Shattered Globe Theatre
At Victory Gardens Theater
2257 N. Lincoln Ave.
Chicago, IL
Call 773-871-3000, Tickets are $26 - $35
Thursdays & Fridays at 8 PM
Saturdays at 8 PM
Sundays at 3 PM
Running time 2 hour, 05 minutes with Intermission
Through May 14, 2006
Poker comes alive in Shattered Globe’s biting comic drama
Shattered Globe Theatre, one of the premiere theatre companies in Chicago, finds gems and lands them with verve. Their latest is an ensemble piece built around poker and gambling that antes up terrific entertainment.
Dealer’s Choice, by British playwright, Patrick Marber, is a brilliant script full of witty, wisecracking drama that relentlessly probes the tortured souls of its six very distinctive characters. Poker players, gamblers and those who love a well-acted, crisp, razor-sharp dialogue will cherish this show.
Stephen (Doug McDade) runs a restaurant and presides over a weekly poker game in the basement. He enjoys playing for big money, and it's not unusual for the waiters to lose their paychecks, or more, each week. One of the waiters, Mugsy (Raymond L. Chapman), dreams of starting his own restaurant. He needs a loan, and thinks Stephen will give it to him since he intends to go into business with Stephen's son, Carl (Kevin Viol). Frankie (Brian McCaskill), a waiter, dreams of going to Vegas to be a pro poker player.
Carl doesn't want any part of a restaurant, and prefers to gamble away whatever money Stephen gives him. This is a long-term problem for Carl. He's gone back and forth with his father, lying about his gambling obsession, pretending to quit, then getting deeper in debt to feed his habit. Stephen tolerates Carl, but just barely. Instead, he offers fatherly love to Mugsy, a chronic loser, but a loser who refuses to give up. Chapman is wonderfully empathetic.
By the end of the first act, everyone either owes money or needs money. Resentments have been stripped raw, secrets divulged, alliances shaken. The poker game that follows crackles with scalding wit and edge-of-your-seat suspense.
On this night, Ash (Nigel Patterson at his eerie best), a professional gambler, shows up at the restaurant and threatens to kill Carl if he doesn't pay up the 4,000 Quid he owes. Carl could ask his father for money again, but he's afraid to admit he hasn't given up gambling. Instead, he invites Ash to play poker with the guys, knowing he'll clean them out.
At this high-stakes game, one by one the waiters drop out. Ash is confronted by Stephen, who can spot a professional a mile away but turns the table on Stephen when he asks him where Carl acquired his habit. Who is the real addict, Carl or Stephen? Shaken, Stephen admits he's hooked on the game. Finally knowing himself for what he is, Stephen approaches Carl with a newfound need to connect with his son.
Marber’s play is remarkable for a first play featuring rich, bittersweet characters using the motif of a weekly high-stakes poker game to speak about compulsive behavior. Marber’s script descends into a dramatic unraveling of the characters
As we first meet Sweeney, played with pet-up emotion by Gregory Hardigan, the cook who announces he will not play in the weekly poker. Enter, Mugsy, the likable, funny “mug” (loser) who dreams of winning in poker despite always losing. Raymond L. Chapman is brilliant and funny as Mugsy.
Doug McDade effective plays Stephen, the restaurant owner and poker game proprietor who is a father figure to the players. McDade anchors the show with strong work while Kevin Viol as Stephan’s addicted gambler son, Carl, demonstrates the agony of an addicted gambler while Brian McCaskill, as Frankie, the waiter pining to leave London for Vegas nicely rounds out the cast. Nigel Patterson, as Ash, the hustler-gambler poker player is the perfect villain with his penetrating expressions and glaring eyes. Patterson controls the game nicely. Actually, the entire cast sports a true London cockney accent that is understandable and easy on the ears.
Director Steve Scott has the ensemble working together like a well tuned auto---smooth, perfect timing delivering the dark humor, personal rivalry as each suffers through the angst every compulsive gambler eventually faces. The cast goes deep into the nature of obsession, the hunger for respect from peers, and the need for mature relationships. They honor Marber’s excellent writing with terrific performances. Kevin Hagan’s terrific set depicting the restaurant and its kitchen worked to create the atmosphere of a London eatery.
Doug McDade and Kevin Viol are moving in the poignant father-son scenes where Carl (Viol) desperately seeks recognition and respect form his dad. Hardigan’s Sweeney’s exit scene after losing all his money sums up the pain losing causes to the gambler. Marvelous work. Raymond L. Chapman’s Mugsy becomes a lovable loser in the hands of a skilled player like Chapman.
At first glance, this play might seem simplistic. Theme: poker. Timeframe: a few hours on a Sunday night. Characters: six blokes, united by the love of gambling. Don’t be fooled---this is a multi-tiered show as much about seeking personal recognition, the thrill of achievement and father-son relationships as it is about poker, about seeking the “action” of compulsive gambling. On this night, old wounds flare up, scores are settled and winning at poker is all that matters. Who will dominate?
You’ll learn about poker—about addiction—about how some seek meaning in their lives—all in a marvelous production of a fine script.
Highly Recommended
Tom Williams
tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago Podcast
Date Reviewed March 26, 2006
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