Theatre Review
Production: Hughie
By: Eugene O'Neill
Director: Robert Falls

Production: Krapp's Last Tape
By: Samuel Beckett
Director: Jennifer Tarver

Principal Actor: Brian Dennehy
Where: Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada 2008
Run: June 18^th to August 31^st 2008
Theatre: Studio Theatre  

Reviewed By: Kindah Mardam Bey (Ontario Correspondent - Canada) 

Brian Dennehy, a dedicated American actor has took the Canadian stage by storm this Stratford 2008 season with two One-Act plays both delving into the theme of lost loved ones. Perhaps two of the most intriguing playwrights of their time Eugene O'Neill who lead a tumultuous life but left a resounding legacy, and Samuel Beckett, who seemed to attend this mere planet for a time to impart his wisdom, are the words on which Dennehy performs two astounding and entirely contrasted character portrayals.  

Dennehy can already be easily identified for his character performances on the big screen, and small screen. hat Dennehy is known for, is being a solid actor in every performance he does, we all know him and we all love his work. Few have had the privilege to see Dennehy on stage, but it is his first love and can be seen in every step he takes and every word he utters. The intimate setting of the Studio Theatre is ideal for such an intimate performance, as both one-act plays are essentially one-man shows (Hughie has a night clerk, performed by Joe Grifasi). However, the theatre should be six times as big to welcome as many people in to see Dennehy onstage.

O'Neill's Hughie, which is the first performance by Dennehy, is the story of Erie Smith, a smooth-talking gambling man who lives in a hotel. He turns in for the night and finds the new night clerk appears to be someone he can talk to, as the one's since Hughie's passing are too young and stupid. Erie is easily seen as being heartbroken at losing this casual chum, who indeed, may have been his closest friend in the world. Hughie is a melancholy look at how one mourns the loss of those seemingly daily people who populate our lives and eventually reveal themselves to have been of great importance. 

Hughie is staged beautifully as the dilapidated hotel foyer has tattered surface areas on the carpet, a well-worn desk, dusty light-fixtures, and a chair that swoops with indentation. Erie is the perfect fixture to the hotel as his white linen suit is equally wrinkled, tattered and well-worn, his hat is misshapen and his five o'clock shadow casts a look of youth-long-gone. Dennehy enters the stage to a respectful round of applause for the career that goes before him...and before he utters his first words as Erie...it was a touching moment. Easy to see, Dennehy is hardcore American talent as he saunters around the stage comfortably, as if the whole audience were simply in his living room and he was recalling a story told to him earlier that day.    

As a stark contrast in character portrayal, after a brief intermission, Dennehy plays Krapp, a curmudgeonly man who appears to have been left alone by the world to rot in his own memories. In contrast to Erie's all talk, Krapp is a man of few distinguishable words, but with as few words as Dennehy does speak, and with a mere presence of masked sadness onstage, we can see that Krapp's Last Tape is about a man replaying (literally, on a recorder being played back) his past; his past obnoxiously intellectual 39-year-old self, his past memories. Seemingly, all at once revelling in those memories that seem to both, comfort and sting Krapp with bitter reproach, at the decision to relinquish love for the sake of his ultimately failed writing career.  

Ironically enough, I had dusted off a legacy within my own family recently, as my Grandfather used to make tapes for me as I was growing up. Almost twenty years after his passing away and I have his words, his thoughts, his voice ever encapsulated on tape. Seeing Krapp's Last Tape seemed oddly inspiring to me at the relevancy of possibly hearing your past from your own lips, or recollecting a memory being so much more vivid for it being recalled at the time of it happening. Krapp must confront his previous self and come to terms with the loss of his former self, the ones he loved and the path he chose.

The set was sparse and black, with a utilitarian table and chair set in the middle and lined up with old tape recording wheels in rusted tins. The reel-to-reel tape machine is on the other end of the table. Dennehy is wearing another filthy outfit, but Krapp makes no attempts to freshen up his moulding appearance. Even though the dialogue was sparse as already mentioned, the performance was compelling and had all the audience riveted to their seats. To cipher a line from Forrest Gump, Beckett and Dennehy are "like peas and carrots," they are simply meant to be together.