by Jack Craib, New Rep Reviewer
Fasten those seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy night. New Rep’s second production of the season is the New England premiere of David Gow’s 1998 play, “Cherry Docs” (a reference to the colorful steel-pointed Doc Martens combat boots said to be preferred by nine out of ten skinheads), and it’s quite a ride. Unlike many of today’s two character plays, (or “two-handers”), this work is not the result of economic considerations; this is an intentionally tight and focused story of two haunted men and their conflicting values. At first it seems to be about a mutually desired outcome of a crisis, namely successfully defending an imprisoned skinhead who has kicked to death an unknown victim he assumed to be a Pakastani immigrant. It soon evolves into a struggle of wills between the Jewish public defender assigned to the case and his young anti-semitic client. Above and beyond this, however, it is nothing less than a searing probe into the nature of hatred and forgiveness, and whether there ever can be atonement for truly horrific acts.
Gow has constructed seven scenes or days corresponding to seven major Jewish holidays, and this is by no means the only allusion, explicit or implied, to Judaica. He references the seven dimensions in the universe that are interconnected, and proceeds to show how his two seemingly diverse protagonists are themselves interconnected. Before the ninety minutes or so of intense drama is through, his characters, each in his own way, is revealed to be a prisoner of his personal fears and prejudices. Set in Toronto, the play involves some unfamiliar court procedures, but the themes are universal. Gow has stated that “as soon as we look at hatred as being outside our own experience, we have separated ourselves from accountability”. By his powerful representation of how both men are confined by their own demons and how they are transformed when freed from them, the playwright makes the point that all of us are fundamentally connected by our common humanity even as our assumed diverse beliefs divide us.
Benjamin Evett (seen in New Rep’s last season in both “Indulgences” and “Opus”) displays yet more versatility as the lawyer Danny Dunkleman. First portrayed as a self-absorbed liberal attorney seemingly motivated mostly by the chance to advance his own career, he discovers he must change his preconceived notion of humanity in order to accept his innate compassion and forgiveness. As he says to Mike Downey (played by Tim Eliot in his New Rep debut), “I am taking you through the eye of the needle; you are the thread of a cloth, a divine cloth. You want to be a lone thread, go ahead. You want to rip that fabric, go at it”. At first, Mike boasts “in an ideal world, I’d see you eliminated”. Later, he admits to Danny “I like you, you’re smart”, to which Danny retorts “I want to punch you”. Director David R. Gammons has the actors roam the compact stage like two primeval animals intent on intimidating one another. Technically, the team of designers are a part of the seamless fabric. The lighting by Karen Perlow, sound and video by Adam Stone and set by Jenna McFarland Lord combine to produce a believably claustrophobic cage. They effectively complement the sparse dialogue, the intelligent direction, and the amazing acting. Evett and Eliot are giving two of the finest performances of the decade, and are surrounded by an equally superb creative team.
There is little that one could reasonably criticize with this work, other than perhaps the author’s epilogue ensuring that his audience hasn’t missed the significance of the names he has given his cast of two, Michael (God’s Archangel) and Daniel (in the lion’s den). That minor criticism aside, New Rep has set the bar high with this one. There is one word for this production: unmissable.
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