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Rag & Bone
By Noah Haidle
Directed by Scott Allen Luke
Produced by Rubicon Theatre Project
At Profiles Theatre
4117 N. Broadway
Chicago, IL
Call 773-466-1835 (www.rubicontheatreproject.org)
Tickets $20, industry nights $10 (Thursdays & Sundays)
Thursdays thru Saturdays at 8 pm
Sundays at 7 pm
Special Sunday matinees at 2 pm on July 20 & 27
Running time is 1 hour, 45 minutes with intermission
Through July 27, 2008
“A mound of refuse or the sweeping of a street,
Old kettles, old bottles, and a broken can,
Old iron, old bones, old rags, that raving slut
Who keeps the till. Now that my ladders gone
I must lie down there at the ladders start
In the foul rag and bone shop of the heart.”
---William Butler Yeats, 1939
Despite fine performances, heavy symbolism weights down “Rag & Bone.”
Noah Haidle’s “Rag & Bone,” is a mixed breed of a play—part surreal comedy, part parody and part symbolic fable—and long on heavy metaphor. There is much to like in this show, especially several quite likable characters nicely performed. But it is Haidle’s script that absolutely over does the ‘heart’ metaphor filling the show with quips about broken hearts and cold hearts. Haidle also gets lost with how to resolve the play as he weakly has the poet recite a show ending poem telling us what the play we just witnessed was about.
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Despite the above short comings, “Rag & Bones” is filled with such empathetic characters that we become engaged with their troubles. Jeff (Adam Prugh) and his brother George (Jacob Ware) run The Ladder Store which is essentially a front for George’s black market heart transplant business. Since Jeff is mentally challenged, George can run the business without him knowing. In this surreal world, hearts can be bought and sold for folks who can’t feel enough. George’s prize heart is from a poet that would allow its recipient to feel everything dynamic in the world. We meet the unfeeling heart-less Poet (Danny Bernardo), a Hooker (Wendy Mateo) who feels nothing, T-Bone (Will Jones), her pimp, who feels too much. There is the Millionaire (Rob Grabowski), cold to world and the nameless customer (Josh Johnson) who needs to get a new heart to begin to feel the world. Add that George has saved his mother’s heart and we have the ingredients for a wacky comedy. When the Millionaire get the poet’s heart; the pimp get his millions and the poet keeps trying to feel life—add George dons a dress as Jeff transplants mother’s heart into George—and the effects of hearts (which also contains souls) on the ability to have one feel the beauties of the world—the limits of feelings are aptly explored. The consequences of too much or too little feelings are dramatized. Add the effects of free will and personality and “Rag & Bone” garners some cute moments.
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Jacob Ware and Adam Prugh are believable as brothers while Wendy Mateo is excellent as the ‘people person’ Hooker. Danny Bernardo and Will Jones add nice work to this show. Now if Noah Haidle had only penned a more complete work—the show comes apart in act two—these worthy performances would have meant more. Haidle simple couldn’t figure out how to resolve his work. Having the poet recite a poetic resolution didn’t work. There are enough excellent performances of unique characters here to warrant see this show.
Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: July 10, 2008
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