New Century Theatre, Northampton, MA
through July 6, 2013
by K.J. Rogowski
“The Sunset Limited” roars through the New Century Theatre
with a compelling head of steam and a cargo of provocative questions,
arguments, and passions.
Cormac McCarthy’s skillfully designed plot and characters,
along with two actors who understand and deliver his contrasting messages make
the evening. The playwright has crafted a trap, symbolically locking tthe duo
in a room, struggling to discover why they are there. They, like their names
and races: Black and White, set the tone. For these two men, that is the way
they live their lives, each believing in their unique creed, unyielding, and
engaged in a series intense debates of age old questions on the value of life,
commitment to your fellow man, and what, if anything, there is after all this.
For one man, the answer is a drive to help those in need,
living where the down trodden and social misfits dwell; and for the other, to
simply end the suffering which he sees his life has become because of the
ultimate futility of all man’s undertakings. For one it has been a life of
crime, prison, and murder; and for the other, a life of privilege, education,
and insights; but for both, lives that have brought them to have done things
neither can dare to reveal.
The set, designed by Shawn Hill and Amy Putnam, captures the
power of McCarthy’s plot, for as the show opens, the sound of "The Sunset
Limited" bellows, lights pulsate, and the set rolls headlong towards the
audience, screeching to a halt at the stage’s edge. And just like the two
locked in the room on stage, the audience instantly knows that the Limited is
headed dead on for them, just as McCarthy intends. This is a trip well worth
taking.
