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The Petrified Forest
By Robert E. Sherwood
Directed by Kathy Scambiatterra
At The Artistic Home Ensemble
1420 W. Irving Park
Chicago, IL
Call 866-811-4111, tickets $22 - $22
Thursdays and Fridays at 8 PM,
Sundays at 5 PM
Running time 2 hrs 10 min with Intermission
Through November 26, 2006
Powerful drama of disillusionment delivers at The Artistic Home
Director Kathy Scambiatterra creates a moving drama about three lost souls trying to find their way in the pessimistic world of Depression Era America. This show grabs us from the start and never lets go as it tells the tale of longing and desperation. You’d be hard pressed to find a fine ensemble piece that this terrific play on showing at The Artistic Home’s intimate storefront.
The Petrified Forest, first performed in 1935, is one of the plays of Robert E. Sherwood, one of America’s best-known playwrights, winning the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1936. One of the reasons the play is so well known is that the 1941 movie adaptation is considered a classic of the gangster genre. Like the Broadway production, the movie starred Leslie Howard and Humphrey Bogart. The role of Duke Mantee, a bitter and complex sociopath, made Bogart a movie star, and his performance defined how Hollywood was to portray gangsters.
The story concerns three characters who move between love and despair: Alan Squier (John Mossman), a penniless intellectual who has come to the desert to die; Gabby (Maria Stephens), the cafe waitress who believes that her life would be rich with meaning if she could leave the cultural wasteland of America and go to France to study art; and Mantee (Mike Carroll), a desperate criminal who stalls his escape to reunite with a woman we never meet. Sherwood uses them, along with the other characters that are held hostage by the gangsters at a small diner on the edge of the desert, to explore our understanding of the sensitive writer and the gangster, leading us to conclude that they have much in common.
With a realistic set depicting a desert diner circa 1934 (set designed by Greg Guyles), The Petrified Forest is a smartly written work featuring Sherwood’s liberal leanings and his bleak out look for America that dominated the early 1930’s. Classics need to be produced for each generation and this production is riveting and worthy. Fast paced, rich with fully developed personas, The Petrified Forest hooks us quickly as Sherwood wastes no time introducing us to life in the Arizona desert during the 30’s. Sherwood alludes to the communist struggle as he depicts the Depression Era belief that “something is wrong with the social order.” We meet several disillusioned men, a wondering intellectual and a dreamy, optimistic girl anxious to find her family roots in France. When fate gathers them with the dangerous gangster, Duke Mantee, destinies show potential to change and as lives become potentially transformed. With a sex-starved college boy, an estranged married couple, a delusional grandfather and a patriotic diner owner, Sherwood presents a telling mixture of personae depicting American of that time. Full of light moments, intellectual and political expressions plus melodramatic action, The Petrified Forest is an engaging show that will keep you on the edge of your seat throughout.
Mike Carroll gave Duke Mantree a subdued, smoldering personality with glimpses of the sociopath killer inside. Mark Dillon, was wonderful as Gramp. Peter Fitzsimmons delivered as the horny college boy pinning for Gabby, as he was deliciously macho and brave while Gabby Maple, the cute waitress that Maria Stephens played as the idealistic, dreaming girl wanting to find her heritage abroad emoted much empathy.
John Mossman nicely underplays the angst and pain of the bitter gigolo novelist Alan Squires. His performance as the wandering intellectual demanded articulation, charm and wit—all of which Mossman emoted naturally. His warmth wins us easily and his pure romantic chivalry powerfully fulfills the dramatic tension of the show with anticipation. Another strong performance by the talented Mossman.
The shootout at the end was exciting in pure gangster style. The Petrified Forest is more than simply a mystery or a gangster play---it is a glimpse into the desires and frustrations of Depression Era folks. I enjoyed the bitter sweet dialog throughout. Mossman and Stephens created sparks almost instantly. The Petrified Forest is excellent look into an era that is not unlike today; one full of doubt and pessimism. This is an engaging show that is offers hope if we persevere.
Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: October 15, 2006
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