Majestic Theater, West Springfield, MA
through April 6, 2014
by Shera Cohen
Three men, each of whom has experienced some of the worst
human horror imaginable, find themselves residents in a senior citizen home for
veterans. They live in a lovely site in France overlooking an expanse of
near-pristine nature. Each seems well-to-do, dressed in suits of the late
1950’s era. On the surface their lives in these last years have turned 180
degrees from their four decades earlier on the battlefields in Europe in WWI.
This is “Heroes.” Each man was a hero and, although current circumstances are
rather mundane and even boring, each man is still a hero.
Director Keith Langsdale, along with a lot of help from set
designer Greg Trochlil, have created a surface tranquility as the antitheses of
the inner, sometimes overt, turmoil of the gentlemen. While the play is chock
full of more dialogue than movement on stage, the repartee between the members
of the trio is brisk, crisp, and seemingly unrehearsed. In fact, slowing down a
bit is recommended in order to give the audience a moment to process many of
the characters’ quips and asides.
J.T.Waite (a regular at the Majestic) shares the stage
equally with Walter Mantani and J.C. Hoyt. It is a cliché term, but the actors
do fit the roles perfectly. While their characters aren’t friends, they are
comrades who face the very real problems of old age together as a force to be
reckoned with. Plotting a “getaway” from the residence keeps them busy in a
fantasy world that pleasantly revs up the action in Act II.
The audience cannot but like these former soldiers, although
it is not necessarily to be enthralled with or fully understand them. Even
today, many do not understand the reasons for the war supposedly “to end all
wars.” How can an audience fully comprehend such conflagration or the men who
faced it and lived through it? “Heroes” offers a brief yet in depth look at
survivors, depicted well on the stage at the Majestic.
