Playwright: Candido Tirado. At: Teatro Vista at the Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St. Tickets: 312-443-3800; www.goodmantheatre.org; $12-$42. Runs through: May 6
If the distinction between a "sport" and a "game" is its analogical applicability to war, then how do we define chess, that venerable training tool for safely sequestered generals preoccupied with strategic advantage? Just as we speculate on the innumerable motives for answering the martial call, so do we guess at what draws the eight men in Candido Tirado's play to gather daily in New York City's Washington Park for a scene of ostensibly orderly combat.
Like all soldiers, each has his own reason for seeking this fraternity: Cherokee Jerome, along with businessmen Stuart and Dr. Lee, have mostly left their enemies behind. Russian expat John comes for the company, and ex-jailbird Peewee, to profit from the "fish" gulled into wagering on the winners. Ah, but for grad school-dropout Cash and new-guy-with-a-secret Rey, this ancient pastime constitutes war as ruthless and bloody as the carnage it symbolizes. In vain does the lone kibitzera holocaust survivor called only "Ninety-Two"warn them of revenge's indelible price. ("Genocide isn't over when the dead are buried.")
The formality with which Tirado sets up HIS game may nettle audiences accustomed to a more organic flow of dramatic action. The round-robin symposiums are easily spotted, the initiating attack obvious to Mamet devotees or, for that matter, playgoers recalling Tirado's other plays, notably Mommas's Boyz. Under the deftly-macho direction of Edward Torres, the backstories that these refugees bring to theum, table engage first our curiosity, and then our sympathies, until we find ourselves choosing up sides in preparation for the inevitable showdown, executed with a speed and fury rendering it arguably the most thrilling duel not requiring a fight choreographer in the history of Chicago theater (Ben Chang and Mark Viafranco are the coaches for this production).
Chess being a close-up activitycloser even than the perimeter seating in the Owen allowsit's up to the actors to keep us apprised of the battle's tide down to the smallest detail. A cast of seasoned players, featuring Raúl Castillo and Cedric Mays as the young champions, carries out its duties with practiced skill, but when the dust settles and the wounded are tallied, the hero who emerges to etch himself firmly in our memories is Howard Witt's Ninety-Two, whose every revelation heralds the reconciliation that Tirado benevolently bestows on his pilgrims.