Quick, name a Canadian playwright. Okay, you get credit for saying the creators of The Drowsy Chaperone, but know of any others?
Photo courtesy of Buffalo Theatre Ensemble
I myself am guilty of not knowing many Canadian playwrights. So it's interesting that Buffalo Theatre Ensemble redresses the imbalance by presenting the Midwest premiere of The Melville Boys by Norm Foster, one of Canada's most-produced playwrights.
Playwright: Norm Foster . At: Buffalo Theatre Ensembleat McAnich Arts Center, 425 Fawell, Glen Ellyn. Phone: 630-942-4000; $23-$33. Runs through: July 27
Foster's 1984 comic drama has nothing to do with Melville of Moby Dick fame, but instead looks at rivalries between two sets of siblings. Perhaps too conveniently, both sets have one responsible sibling, while the other is free-spirited, selfish and ( OK I'll say it ) stupid.
The title Melville Boys are two blue-collar workers in their 30s who go fishing at their Aunt Rose's lake cabin one weekend ( they're Green Bay Packers fans, so you can place them in northern Wisconsin or Michigan ) . The elder brother, Lee ( Bryan Burke ) , wants to use the weekend to talk seriously about the future, but Owen ( Adam Sweders ) sabotages things by luring two sisters into the cabin.
Owen immediately takes to ( and later hooks up with ) Loretta ( Simone Roos ) , a shapely redhead with acting aspirations since she's appeared in two used-car TV commercials. That leaves Lee with Mary ( Emily Bach ) , who is nursing the pain from being dumped by her husband three years ago.
Watching Burke and Bach navigate their sexual tension amid their inner turmoil is what makes The Melville Boys most interesting to watch. The two form the heart of the play, which seriously goes off the rails after the sisters leave.
My major beef with The Melville Boys is that the largely sitcom-style writing does not justify the abrupt gear change into serious drama. When Lee and Owen start yelling and spewing a list of resentful recriminations, you wonder if the actors changed scripts with another play.
But if you can get past the stylistic incongruity and tidily contrived sibling mirroring, The Melville Boys is enjoyable. Buffalo Theatre Ensemble serves up a sturdy production under the direction of Kurt Naebig, framed in a wonderfully homey cabin set by Michael W. Moon.
Both Roose and Sweders are loads of fun as they play dumb, though you can see the method to their immaturity, which doesn't fully allow you to fully buy them as their characters.
Since they have more drama to work with, Burke and Bach are much more believable and easier to empathize with. Burke in particular creates a complex performance of a man disappointed by his past and extremely frightened of his future.
So if Foster's play isn't perfect, at least Buffalo Theatre Ensemble does its part artistically and culturally by producing a good staging of The Melville Boys. After all, how many Canadian plays have you seen lately?