"Heroes"

May 1, 2016 — The Northern New England Repertory Company presented "Heroes" by Gérald Sibleyras, translated from the French by Tom Stoppard, in the former courtroom converted to a theater in Whipple Memorial Town Hall in New London, New Hampshire. The Whipple doesn't have much in the way of theater technology. There's little to offer in lighting effects or sound. Seating is in individual chairs, with poor visibility of the rather low stage from the back of the room. Up until a few years ago, NNERep staged its plays in the much more modern and better-equipped Sawyer Hall, part of Colby-Sawyer College, also in New London just a short piece down Main Street.

In spite of its shortcomings, the Whipple drew a large audience on this rainy Sunday afternoon, almost completely filling the small theater. Strong performances by the three-man cast, directed by John Goodlin, were enthusiastically received.

It's 1959 in an old soldiers' home in France. World War I veterans Henri (Kevin Tarleton), Gustave (Mike Gregory, giving the strongest performance) and Philippe (Charley Freiberg) spend their days on the terrace, fighting boredom, talking about the war, women, arguing and generally annoying each other. "There are plenty of women here at the home." "Yes, but the fact they're all nuns is a drawback." Henri goes on a daily constitutional, hobbled by an ancient leg injury. Gustave, pompous and argumentative, has delusions of grandeur, and Philippe tends to frequently, but briefly, lose consciousness, due to shrapnel in his brain.

The three eventually hatch a plan — well, several hare-brained plans — to escape from the home. Gustave at first suggests they escape to Indo-China where they'll find the prettiest girls, but this is ruled out as impractical. They then propose a less ambitious plan to cross the fields and river to their beloved poplar trees they admire daily from the terrace. The French title of the play was "Le Vent des Peupliers" which translates to "The Wind in the Poplars." When it was translated to English, there was fear that might be mistaken for Kenneth Graham's "The Wind in the Willows," so they re-titled the English version "Heroes."

This was a play of gentle humor and chuckles. The three actors played off each other nicely. It was an afternoon well-spent. I recommend "Heroes" if it comes to your neighborhood.

"Grounded"

April 30, 2016 — It's a significant achievement when a lone actor can hold an audience's rapt attention for one hundred minutes without an intermission, but that's what theatre KAPOW's Carey Cahoon accomplished in "Grounded" by George Brant at the Derry Opera House in Derry, New Hampshire.

I've seen Carey, winner of the 2014 New Hampshire Theatre Award for Best Actress, in many fine performances, but this was one of her most intense. As a female fighter pilot (unnamed), she loves every aspect of her job, the thrill, the speed, the danger, even her flight suit, and the camaraderie with "my guys." It's what she lives for. But everything changes when she finds herself pregnant. Air Force regulations require she be grounded. After the birth of her daughter, she assumes she will be returned to her former job, but she's assigned to a drone, thousands of miles away, which she will control from a computer console in Las Vegas. Pilots derisively call it the "Chair Force."

On a stage with five video screens as a backdrop, and no other props other than a chair, Carey spills out her anger and frustration for more than an hour and a half over her loss of identity, her twelve-hour seven-day-a-week shifts, and none of the camaraderie she enjoyed as a pilot. With everyone working different shifts, there are no after-hours get-togethers. At the same time, she's devoted to her family. It's a case of a woman balancing job and family on a grand scale.

Directed by Matt Cahoon, with clever integration of video on the five screens by Nicole Porter, lighting design by Tayva Young, music by Nat Word, and Brad Fitzgerald manning the light board, this was a brilliant production all around. The audience was invited to remain after the show for a discussion of what they witnessed, In spite of the one hundred minutes without a break, most of us stayed another twenty minutes while Carey and Matt fielded questions and comments.

The final performance will be this afternoon at 2 p.m. If you miss that, there will be a scaled-back presentation at the Aviation Museum on June 3:

http://www.nhahs.org/