Gallagher
takes best 'Shot' with tale from front HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
reviewed by Hedy Weiss
May 10, 2005
Actress-turned-playwright Maureen
Gallagher has never worked in a war zone. But you'd
never guess it from watching "Martin Furey's Shot,"
her exceptionally smart, emotionally blistering, finely
observed drama about a photojournalist in psychic freefall.
The play, now in a masterful world
premiere production at TimeLine Theatre, also happens
to be Gallagher's first full-length work for the stage
-- and it's a mightily impressive achievement. Not only
is her story ablaze with strong characters and a slew
of authentically rendered voices, but it also takes
a sweeping look at recent historical events and meshes
them with great sleight-of-hand into the personal lives
of her characters. In doing all this so convincingly
and seamlessly, she makes many veterans of the playwrighting
trade look like hapless beginners.
It helps, of course, that Gallagher
is working at TimeLine, the company that not long ago
premiered another superb new play, "Hannah &
Martin," and that has a unique gift for matching
director, cast and design team. Not a single element
here has been left to chance.
Stranger
in a strange land
Martin Furey (a bravura turn by Darrell W. Cox, who
may just be this city's next John Malkovich) is a Chicago-bred
photographer who travels with that international brigade
of photojournalists who move from one war zone and global
hot spot to another. He has been to Belfast and Bosnia.
But now he is caught up in the ugly, often violent prelude
to elections in South Africa.
The system of apartheid has been dismantled,
but many different forces within the country are attempting
to undermine the potential for peaceful change and elections.
And Furey is chronicling the worst of it all -- particularly
the brutal killings of children -- along with his colleagues.
They include Lev (Terry Hamilton), the liberal white
South African considered the old master of his craft;
Arthur (Sean Nix), the young black South African who
is on intimate terms with his subjects, and Sam (Andre
Teamer), an older, more settled and mellow black photographer
from Chicago who realizes he has had more than enough
of life on a knife's edge.
Furey, who is younger, has seen too
much for his own good, too, but he doesn't quite know
what to do about it. When he flies home to visit his
girlfriend Kathe (Juliet Hart), an independent-minded
teacher in the inner city, he is a mess, stopping to
pick up some Quaaludes from his local connection. The
pills, he says, just help him "take the edge off."
He has a young daughter from an earlier
relationship who he loves but rarely sees. He proposes
marriage to Kathe in a kind of crazed attempt at normalcy
that she knows is bound to fail. He cannot quite sever
his need to follow the news, yet at the same time he
senses a growing panic that is sure to get him killed.
And then the best and the worst thing
happens to Furey. He is awarded a prestigious prize
for a shot of a dying child he took in a Sarajevo hospital.
The adulation he receives for capturing what is in many
ways a sign of his own impotence in the face of a tragic
situation turns poisonous. A phone call to his sweet
but naive parents only serves to remind him of just
how physically and emotionally detached most people
are from the places he shoots. Something really breaks
in him after this career high, and it is exacerbated
after his friends lose their luck.
A rich story,
well told
Gallagher has captured it all: the actual peril and
intensity of the moments of shooting; the subtle tension
between white and black South Africans in terms of trust
and access; the casually sexy and stunningly real romantic
interludes between Furey and Kathe that grow unspeakably
sad; the many forms of career panic; the barroom camaraderie;
the New York bitterness. And director Anna C. Bahow
has done a superb job of keying into all the play's
subcultures and all its characters' highs and lows.
She also has assembled a marvelous cast.
The play is a monumental showcase
for Cox, a fearlessly sensual, quietly dangerous actor
of great intelligence, energy and volatility. Cox works
most often at Profiles Theatre, the North Side storefront
where he serves as associate artistic director, and
where he tends to play wackos, including the addict
in the recent long-running hit production of Adam Rapp's
"Blackbird." He also made a powerful impression
as a philandering hus- band in "Orange Flower Water"
at the Steppenwolf Garage. But this may just be his
big breakout performance. He's got Furey nailed -- a
perfect closeup.
Cast contributes
mightily
As for Hamilton, an actor who comes close to Alec Guinness
in his ability to say more by doing less, he also is
picture perfect here. Teamer brings a maturity and unaffected
warmth to the role of Sam. Nix (who does a beautiful
job with his final monologue) is all ebullience and
youthful optimism as Arthur. Hart is wonderfully believable
as the woman who adores Furey but refuses to be dragged
down with him. And they all dive into multiple small
roles, too, leaving strong impressions in each.
Set designer Brian Sidney Bembridge,
whose work can be seen on several of the city's stages
at the moment, has created one of his most memorable
sets here -- a great panoramic wall of the township
slums that doubles as a vast screen for the many projections
of archival photographs that are expertly fused into
the storytelling. The projection design by Mike Tutaj
is richly complemented by Charles Cooper's lighting
and Andrew Hansen's superb soundscape. Credit costume
designer Cybele Moon with giving each man his 18-pocket
photographer's vest.
