By J.E. BALLANTYNE JR.
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The local theater season is wrapping up all over the area and Hopewell Theatre is dancing itself offstage with “Middletown” by Will Eno. Not your standard piece of theater in any respect, “Middletown” takes a look at a small, small town filled with quirky characters everywhere you look.
Eno has structured a very interesting idea where the characters directly address the audience on a regular basis, making the audience actually a part of the play and thus a segment of the population of Middletown. This is certainly an ensemble piece with actors showing up as several different characters throughout.
We are given a welcoming speech to start by the Public Speaker played by Jeanine Rees. But besides the normal “Ladies and Gentlemen,” she goes on a five-minute plus adventure, mentioning every possible type of person or thing that goes beyond the traditional salutation. Cleverly written, Rees has to be give extra kudos for even being able to learn the lines. It couldn’t have been easy.
The only exceptions to the ensemble structure are in several characters which help to string each vignette together. Candace DiLullo plays Mrs. Swanson, a new arrival to Middletown. Having just moved there, she and her husband are trying to start a family. DiLullo brings a natural grace to the role of Swanson. Her development of the character from her first scene to the last shows a growth pattern well thought out and executed. Swanson goes through many emotions on her journey and they are all done to a point of realistic believability. DiLullo’s acting is so smooth it is like she isn’t even acting.
Similarly, Nick Mulichak plays Swanson’s neighbor, John Dodge. Mulichak also gives a portrayal that has an emotional range. What we see in the beginning as a normal kind of guy soon transforms into a character with some deep seated emotional problems. Mulichak plays the comedy well with Dodge but is also adept at laying bare some of Dodge’s more emotional and darker secrets. His strongest moments occur in Act II as we see an almost totally different person.
Chase Miles as the Mechanic is another character that takes the audience for a ride. Yes, he’s a mechanic, but he also finds excitement in being the town drunk.
Miles has many comedic moments but can turn on a dime, complete with a deranged look in his eye, that moves the character into a more dramatic direction which hints early on at a past sprinkled with problems. Again, his character really comes alive in Act II as he creates a much darker character but at the same time a character with which the audience can sympathize.
As Librarian, Amy-Anne Kibler creates the perfect spinster type person that many stereotype as a librarian. A bit scatterbrained and a bit of a bookworm, Kibler injects the character with not only a healthy dose of comedy but also humanity. With pencils flaring out of her hair in every direction, she is funny, lovable and quirky.
Kibler’s real life husband, Eric, plays the Middletown cop. Friendly, quietly jovial and a friend to all (except the Mechanic), Eric Kibler breathes a fatherly life into the role. His role resembles that of the Stage Manager in Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” in that he addresses the audience all the way through the play and interjects bits of information. He even manages to layer in that same “Our Town” atmosphere into the cop.
Others in the cast that offer up good performances are Jaclyn-Sarah Senich as a Tour Guide and Nurse, Leslie Whetstine as a couple of quirky women that pop in and out, and Brendan Boyle as an enthusiastic doctor explaining how to proceed with a baby after child birth.
Director Jeanine Rees has done well with her casting and direction. She has permitted her actors to explore these off the wall characters and breathe an interest- ing existence into each and every one of them. Even the smaller roles are handled well.
“Middletown” is a fun evening. If you ask someone what the show is about, well, you are likely to get as many different answers as people you ask. It is really about a lot of things. What it means to each individual, depends on that individual. But you don’t have to sit there and concentrate on that – just enjoy it. It is well done and fun.
“Middletown” will continue June 14, 20 and 21 at 7:30 p.m. and June 22 at 2 p.m.
Pictured at top: Brendan Boyle and Candace DiLullo in a scene from Hopewell Theatre’s production of “Middletown.”