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Paradise Lost
By Clifford Odets
Directed by Louis Contey
At Timeline Theatre Company
615 W. Wellington Ave.
Chicago, IL
Call 773-281-8463, tickets $25 - $30
Thursdays at 7:30 pm
Fridays at 8 pm
Saturdays at 4 & 8 pm
Sundays at 2pm
Running time is 2 hours, 20 minutes with intermission
Through October 21, 2007
“The tragedy of our time in the theatre is the tragedy of Clifford Odets.”
-- Elia Kazan
“I will reveal America to itself by revealing myself to myself.”
-- Clifford Odets
“We cancel our experience. This is an American habit.”
-- Leo Gordon, Paradise Lost
“No one talks about the depression of the modern man’s spirit.”
-- Lucas Pike, Paradise Lost
The Great Depression provides the landscape for Odets family drama
Timeline Theatre kicks off its eleventh season of history based plays with Clifford Odets’ (1906-1963) 1935 family drama first produced by the Group Theatre, run by directors Harold Clurman, Lee Strasberg and Cheryl Crawford. This group stressed ensemble works without star turns. Odets’ Paradise Lost is surely an ensemble work with a socially conscious subject matter featuring naturalistic language and sprinkled with apt symbolism. Odets was attuned to the two-edged sword of American optimism and the present failure of the American Dream.
Set at the deepest part of The Great Depression (1932-35), Paradise Lost is an allegorical family drama about the Gordon’s—a middle class American family whose ‘paradise’ consists of a fine house, a business and three children. The Gordon’s fall happens due to social and political forces beyond their control. Their children fall to sickness, melancholy and frustrated dreams. Told with a blend of street language, slang and eloquent speeches, Odets mirrors the angst and conflicts of the middle class American family in the 1930’s.
Leo Gordon (Michael Kingston in a complex and truthful performance) anchors the Gordon family as the father who holds his high moral values despite having his world come apart. This mensch has the emotional strength and idealism to offer hope that the nobility of humanity will ultimately prevail. Leo is Odets voice of optimism. His family is filled with unique characters.
The devastation of middle class life is vividly demonstrated as Leo loses his handbag factory from a combination of economic forces and fraud by his partner, Sam Katz (Brian McCartney). Clara Gordon (Janet Ulrich Brooks in a strong performance) is the realistic and hard-noised matriarch who often offers fruit and meatloaf to sooth angst. Pearl Gordon (Mechelle Moe) escapes into her music while sickly Julie Gordon (Jurgen Hooper) plots dry-runs of winning stock market purchases. The malaise of subtle hopelessness is deftly depicted by neighbor Gus Michaels (Whit Spurgeon in an emotionally draining performance) who has several stirring soliloquies lamenting the ‘good old days’ before the Depression. He is the voice of the hopeless who borders on despair.
The raw and streetwise neighbor and Ben’s pal, Kewpie (in an intense and riveting turn from Jeremy Glickstein) is determined to survive and flourish by any means legal or not. If he wants it, he goes for it including Ben’s new wife Libby (Tien Doman). Aaron Golden, as Ben Gordon, is the voice of the immature youth unable to adjust to the adult world’s responsibilities. He gets caught up in Kewpie’s violent underworld.
Over an 18 month timeline, Odets presents the destruction of the Gordon family as well as offering several social activist calls from the rebel rousing Lucas Pike (Scott Aiello in powerfully eloquent performance). Odets allows his characters to be real and noble without being contradictory. Leo Gordon is exemplary of the basic goodness of man. The effects of poverty verses the idealism on the human spirit comes to life with these empathetic characters. Odets is a master storyteller, a glib writer who gives a voice to the common citizen. The angst of the Gordon’s still rings true today.
Director Lou Contey smartly allows each character to come to life and dialect coach Eva Breneman has the players in a fine Bronx accent. Set designer Karen Hoffman graphically depicts the flat (circa 1930’s) with copper tubing and highlighted by the grand piano protruding from the second story. Timeline Theatre continues to maintain the highest standards of theatrical craft. Paradise Lost is a gripping peek into a most trying period of the American Experience. The journey produces a marvelous evening of theatre. An outstanding ensemble drama awaits.
Highly Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: August 25, 2007
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