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Not A Game For Boys
By Simon Block
Directed by Robin Witt
At A Red Orchid Theatre
1531 N. Wells
Chicago, IL
Call 312-943-8722, tickets $20 - $25
Thursdays thru Saturdays at 8 pm
Sundays at 7 pm
Special Sunday matinee at 3 pm on June 1
Running time is 2 hours with intermission
Through June 22, 2008
Ping Pong is a game like no other. It demands acute dexterity, lightening quick reflexes, and nerves of steel.
British buddy play highlights male competitiveness
Not A Game for Boys, British playwright Simon Block’s 1995 dark comedy now in a U.S. Premiere at A Red Orchid Theatre, has its moments. Three London cabbies, two middle aged and one younger, escape their tensions once per week by playing ping pong in an elite London league. This smart comedy contains loads of British idioms that lesson some of the laughs. The sports terminology also suffers---a ping pong paddle become a ‘bat,’ etc. Basically, Not A Game For Boys is a male bonding buddy play about guys playing an organized team sport (here table tennis). They use ping pong to fulfill their competitive instincts and to escape from their personal trouble. During their 45 minutes per week playing ping pong, somehow their problems follow them into their matches.
Oscar (Dan Rivkin) is the bachelor cabbie who is growing weary of playing in the elite league after witnessing an over weight player dying during a match. Eric (Nigel Patterson) is the team captain and fanatically fierce competitor who lives for his weekly ping pong match. He is pure testosterone. He can’t face the fact that age has diminished his ping pong skills. He and Oscar’s game suffers and demotion to the second level looms. Eric is passionate about holding on. He jibes Oscar to concentrate and give his all in their final match of the season.
Tony (Bob Turton) is the 20somethig cabbie who is the strongest player on the team. He is a simple minded guy who can’t concentrate on ping pong because he has relationship problems with his live-in girlfriend. Eric constantly gets phone calls from his wife about his feeble-minded live-in mother. Oscar can’t get the images of the dying player out of his head. Can they survive and win their match?
Not A Game For Boys is filled with funny one-liners and stinging male chauvinistic comments as well as poignant scenes depicting the disintegration of the bonds the three part-time athletes once possessed. Is ping pong more important than their outside lives, their families? Is the competitive spirit so important? We see how each player deals with their tension as life interrupts sport. The powerful ending works well.
I can relate to these guys and so will male audience members. The three actors were terrific making this work a fine ensemble piece. Nigel Patterson was particularly strong as the fanatic player.
Recommended
Tom Williams
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: May 11, 2008
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