Familiar Patterns

Between Riverside and Crazy – Redtwist Theatre

Humanity’s greatest strength is that we can adjust to anything. No matter how terrible a situation, we can almost always find a way to survive. Humanity’s greatest weakness is also that we can adjust to anything. Because we have learned to survive in even a terrible situation, we’ll stay there because the familiarity feels safe. Change, even it’s for the better, is terrifying. That pattern plays itself out several times with several people in Redtwist’s new production of Between Riverside and Crazy, the 2015 Pulitzer Prize winning play.

Pops is a retired New York City cop, living in a rent-controlled apartment on Riverside Drive. Having lived there since the 80s, he pays $1500 a month for an apartment, and I am not exaggerating, worth ten times that amount. But it’s not just the unbelievable rent that keeps Pops stuck in his apartment. He’s spent the last eight years suing the city of New York over the incident that led to his retirement. His wife recently passed away after a long illness and he still sits in her wheelchair at his kitchen table. A bottle of Marker’s Mark is never farther than arm’s reach.

Now, though, the combination of the city trying to put an embarrassing lawsuit to rest and a landlord looking to get rid of a low-paying tenant may force him out of his home. Sent to do the not-so-subtle dirty work in convincing him to play ball are his old partner and her new fiance, also a New York City cop. Add to that his son, Junior, recently released from prison, has moved in along with his girlfriend, Lulu, and they have their own problems. The swirl of old and new resentments bubble to the surface, much as you would expect in any Pulitzer-winning drama. What keeps the show interesting is that you can’t quite trust any character, at least not fully. No character is entirely good or bad, right or wrong. No one is quite what they present themselves as, and it’s as much the conflict between who they are and who they show the world that haunts the characters as any conflicts they have with other people.

Kenneth Johnson is terrific as Pops. He gives life and real bite to the character. Pops is a man from an era where men weren’t exactly given the tools to express their feelings or deal with their problems in a healthy way. Johnson does a great job infusing the character with the frustration and self-loathing that he pretty much only knows how to express as anger. Faults and all, the audience cares what happens to him, and that’s on the strength of Johnson’s acting. A character introduced in the second act only as “Church Lady,” played by Gabrielle Lott-Rodgers, is also a delight. She is a breath of fresh air that both Pops and the play need to keep from becoming leaden, but even her bright light hides secrets. The remaining cast members are certainly good actors. Especially early on, though, a few felt more like caricatures than characters. I credit that more to the script that spent most if its time on Pops than on the actors themselves. By the time everyone gets fleshed out in the second act, each can hold their own against Pops.

The set design is, as always, a highlight in the Redtwist’s small storefront space. Converted to the living room and kitchen of Pops’ apartment, the audience is sitting right at his table as he has his morning glass of whiskey. The fine details are spot on. Stacks of dishes, newspapers, and prescription bottles crowd every surface. The furniture appears to have given up with its owner. You get the sense that even after a good cleaning and a coat of paint, you still couldn’t stop the place from looking a little sad and run down.

Early on in the show, you realize Pops is fighting the wrong battles. Even if he beats the city and his landlord and everyone else, it won’t fix what’s really wrong. The outcome of these battles aren’t what will make him happy; it’s only that the fighting is successfully distracting him from the fact he’s not. Anchored by a growling but ultimately sympathetic performance by its lead, waiting to see if Pops realizes all of that makes for a hell of a show. Between Riverside and Crazy is another great play by a theater from which I have come to expect little else.

Highly Recommended

Reviewed by Kevin Curran

Presented January 12-February 10, by Redtwist Theatre, 1044 W, Bryn Mawr, Chicago.

Tickets are available by calling 773-728-7529 or by going to www.redtwist.org.

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com.