SITE GUIDE
SEARCH
REVIEWS
FEATURES
NEWS
Etcetera and
Short Term Listings
LISTINGS
Broadway
Off-Broadway
NYC Restaurants
BOOKS and CDs
OTHER PLACES
Berkshires
London
California
DC
Philadelphia
Elsewhere
QUOTES
On TKTS
PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS
LETTERS TO EDITOR
FILM
LINKS
MISCELLANEOUS
Free Updates
Masthead
Writing for Us
A CurtainUp Review
October 1962
For a pre-opening interview with October 1962 author D. W. Gregory, go here
|
You don't make any sense. First you say not to worry. . . then you say we can't go to school alone. It's just like with the missiles. You want to pretend nothing is going on. But we know what's going on. We're not stupid. Why can't you just TELL US! (quick beat) Oh NEVER MIND! I DON'T CARE!— Jean to her parents.
|
(L to R) Juliet Kapanjie as Nancy and Jenny Vallancourt as Jean
(Photo: SuzAnne Barabas) |
But the play only uses that time as a background for a scenario in which the people in a small town, specifically the Timmons family, are provoked by uncertainty and prompted to act often rashly in response to a perceived menace or danger. Fourteen year old Jean Timmons (Jenny Vallancourt) and her younger eleven year-old sister Nancy (Juliet Kapanjie) certainly know the drill. That is they know what they have been told to do if an atomic bomb should be dropped while they were in school, like hiding under their desks. But these are pretty clever girls and they quickly come to the conclusion, no matter what they have been told by the adults, that they would be just as dead sitting at their desks.
Undoubtedly a fan of the Nancy Drew mysteries, Jean envisions herself as part detective and part novelist as she peers through the window of the dining room using her father's binoculars. She reports what she sees going on outside the window in an engagingly descriptive manner to Nancy, who writes down her words in a diary. Apparently a young man who lived down the block has returned to his home after serving a sentence, for manslaughter of a seven year old when he was only thirteen. Jean's curiosity is peaked when she sees the young man, now old enough to drive a motorcycle, and who she only vaguely remembers as a child, in the company of their father David (James Patrick Earley).
Here is where Gregory's play begins to percolate. Apparently the townspeople are up in arms not only over the reappearance of the young man who they feel is a threat to the community and to the safety of their children but also by the fact that David has offered the young man a job in his business. His wife Laura (Kittson O'Neill) is more than irate with David's presumably generous action, which she is sure will jeopardize their standing in the community. Laura's response, as is quickly perceived, is fueled by something yet unseen, untold, or understood —as well as by the number of times she tips the gin bottle that sits readily available on a side stable.
The turn of the dramatic events, at least what transpires within the Timmons' home, is most cleverly entrusted to the girls. This provides a refreshing perspective to memories of incidents that are recalled, family secrets that are exhumed, and relationships that are tested. It takes a bit of courage to entrust so much of the play's dynamics to two very young actresses, but Miss Vallencourt responds beautifully to the challenge and is quite wonderful as the audacious undeterred detective determined to make sense of a mystery and family matters too long cloaked in denial and subterfuge. Miss Kapanjie is an unwittingly delightful accomplice, and also amusingly displays all the irritating qualities of a little sister.
Under Matthew Arbour's purposefully restrained direction, the play's darker and progressively unsettling revelations begin to surface early in Earley's tense performance as the husband who is drawn defensively and unalterably into a no-way-out situation. O'Neill's is excellent as the brittle emotionally drained wife who is forced to come to terms with a grim reality. The chief pleasure of a play that inevitably casts a long and dark shadow, however, is Gregory's insightful depiction of a child's logic and the ability that children have to persevere and to withstand all the evidence to the contrary. Despite warnings, Jean and Nancy do affect meetings with the boy (never seen). The play makes a clear enough analogy between the way that people are inclined to react in the face of fear and the way the townspeople and the family in this play respond to what they perceive as a very real and present danger.
Previously, Gregory made a big impact at N.J. Rep with her play The Good Daughter, which earned her a Pulitzer Prize nomination. Audiences will find that October 1962 packs a wallop and sustains our interest. Gregory, who also writes plays specifically for young actors, has certainly created two vivid roles for these two young actresses. Perhaps more importantly her play subtly draws parallels between the political climate in 1962 and today, and how adults are likely to unwittingly become catalysts of fear mongers. All technical credits are commendable from Carrie Mossman’s modest living room setting, Patricia E. Doherty’s costumes, particularly the Halloween get-ups for the girls, and Jill Nagle’s lighting.
|
October 1962 Playwright: D.W. Gregory Directed by Matthew Arbour Scenic Design: Carrie Mossman Costume Design: Patricia E. Doherty Lighting Design: Jill Nable Sound Design: Merek Royce Press Running Time: 2 hours including intermission New Jersey Repertory Theatre, at the Lumia Theatre, 179 Broadway, Long Branch, N.J. Performances are Thursday, Fridays at 8 PM, Saturdays at 3 PM and 8 PM, and Sundays at 2 PM. through January 28, 2007. Reservations 732/ 229- 3166 or www.njrep.org Tickets $35 with discounts available to students, seniors, groups and through subscriptions. Opening night: January 6 (preview performances on January 4 and 5) Review by Simon Saltzman based on performance January 6 |
Easy-on-the budget super gift for yourself and your musical loving friends. Tons of gorgeous pictures.
Leonard Maltin's 2007 Movie Guide
At This Theater
Leonard Maltin's 2005 Movie Guide
>
