Somewhere in Time

Bloomsday – Remy Bumppo Theatre Company

Steven Dietz may be one of the most-produced playwrights in America, simply because he’s written so many comedies, dramas and literary adaptations. In this 2015 romantic drama, he bends the concepts of time and space to weave an interesting tale of the road not taken, or a riff on the one true love who got away. In its Chicago debut, under the astute direction of JR Sullivan, a cast of four, talented actors, led by the luminous Annabel Armour, breathe life into this play. It’s story of Robbie/Robert, an American tourist visiting Ireland, and Caithleen/Cait, a guide employed to take fascinated travelers around the James Joyce’s Dublin, specifically to the various locations from his 1922 literary masterpiece, Ulysses.

Taking place in a single 24-hour period, a day Joyce called Bloomsday, in his novel, we first meet 55-year-old Robert. He’s an American college professor who teaches a course in Joyce. He’s returned to Dublin, recalling the day when, as a dreamy, 20-year-old named Robbie, he fell in love at first sight with Caithleen, a pretty 20-year-old tour guide. Caithleen pleads with Robbie to join her group, on that particular morning, so that she won’t have an unlucky 13 participants. Throughout their wanderings up and down Joyce’s cobblestone and brick streets, and in and out of shops, pubs and other locales, the two share wishes, hopes and secrets, and end up falling deeply in love.

But, as the older and wiser Robert and Cait connect and interact, both with each other and with their younger selves, they observe and opine about the young people they once were, as well as the older adults they’ve both become. Each knows what he/she has had to endure in order to grow up; but they both imagine how their lives might’ve turned out differently, if only…if only…

In Dietz’s journey of two lovers traveling somewhere in time, he paints a melancholy portrait of the longing that we all experience for our younger years, a more innocent time, when anything seemed possible. But, as is the playwright’s point, youth is wasted on the young and opportunities once presented fade away in time. The more immature Robbie and skittish Caithleen fail to enact upon what might’ve been the one true love of their lives and, thus, mourn the loss of the adventurous, full life it promised.

All four actors are excellent, with Ms Armour, as in every role she undertakes, the true standout. Shawn Douglass is very good as the older and wiser Robert, Jack DeCesare is appropriately impulsive and coltish as young Robbie and Bryce Gangel is feisty and perfectly delightful as Caithleen. Jack Magaw’s sparse scenic design is enhanced by the ever-changing Dublin locales found in Yeaji Kim’s beautiful projections. Great work is achieved by dialect doctors, Eva Breneman and Vahishta Vafadari, in keeping their actors sounding authentic, yet beautifully understandable.

This is Steven Dietz’s fascinating version of a memory play. It taps into the nostalgia of our regrets and lost opportunities. His theme that adults, no matter their age, must somehow make peace with the roads they’ve taken and those they’ve left behind, is relevant to everyone. This journey through time and space is also reminiscent of a science fiction novella, by author David Gerrold, entitled The Man Who Folded Himself. In this book, a central character who’s able to travel back and forth in time interacts with himself at various ages and tries to teach himself valuable lessons. Perhaps younger theatergoers won’t have the same reaction to Steven Dietz’s romantic time travel fantasy as the more mature audiences; but those who’ve ever lived their lives wondering how things might’ve turned out differently will find that this story especially hits home.

Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas

Presented May 16-June 22 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago.

Tickets are available in person at the box office, by calling them at 773-975-8150 or by going to www.RemyBumppo.org.

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