NO PLACE TO BE SOMEBODY
It’s easy to shrug off the tittering as mere stupidity, but Stage Actoring Studio must share the blame. Despite some absolutely riveting performances, a killer script, and top-notch barebones set design, the production fails to convey the weight of Gordone’s drama.
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There’s no difficulty figuring out what’s right about this production. Rarely, performed these days, Gordone’s 1969 No Place to Be Somebody is an exciting mixture of sublime poetry, rough urban dialogue, and a wickedly engrossing plot. It perfectly conjures the atmosphere of Johnny’s Bar, the south-side Chicago dive where small-time hood Johnny Williams runs rackets and a prostitution ring while scheming to form his own black Mafia.
So what’s the problem? It’s not the key performers, who act their asses off. It’s not the set: with its antique cash register, red-and-white checked tablecloths, and eight-track jukebox, it perfectly captures the gritty, lowdown mood. The lighting, however, might have something to do with it: Puszh Studios is saddled with antiquated point-the-tin-cans and twirl-the-dimmer-knobs technology, and so the acting space and audience are sometimes bathed in an irritatingly bright glare. Such incandescence, helpful for reading the program and glowering at laughing drunks, detracts from the play’s mood of darkness.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Tamar Berk.
