New Century Theatre, Northampton, MA
Through July 21, 2012
by Dave Chivers
With "Auld Lang Syne,” New Century Theatre co-founder
Jack Neary has written a witty, engaging, thoughtful play that provides for a delightful
evening of theatre.
The play receives a workmanlike performance from its two actors,
Anne Scurria as the solidly Catholic, middle class Mary and Barry Press as Joe LeCedra
a two-bit mobster with hopes of becoming something more. Before being brought together
on New Years' Eve for a purpose that is slowly revealed, their only previous connection
in life had been as elementary schoolmates some fifty years before.
The play begins with a rat-a-tat opening that seems right
out of the best of Abbott and Costello, with silly wordplay and misunderstood double
meanings. But under Neary's sure writing this eventually evolves into something
more - an unexpected, but not out of place, exploration of questions such as the
relative merits of Heaven and Hell, the existence of God, and what makes life worth
living - or not.
Throughout most of the first Act the two actors provide a
finely tuned madcap performance that is engaging and fun. Barry Press is especially
convincing as Joe, a guy who keeps messing up his life, but keeps trying to make
better despite himself.
Near the end of the First Act, the pace begins to lag a bit.
As the Second Act opens, the play takes on a darker, more reflective tone. The script
remains strong, but the acting to pull off such mood change in more extended monologues
falls a bit flat. Attempts to recapture the energy of the first act didn't quite
come together in this opening performance, and while the play ends with a satisfying,
thoughtful conclusion, it lacks a bit of vitality that it might well find as the
run goes on.
The set and staging is well done, with the effects of off-stage
comings and goings of cars and trucks (crucial to the plot) very convincing.
This is only the second staging "Auld Lang Syne"
but given the strength of the writing, it should be a play that finds itself produced
regularly in the future.