Excellent acting, exquisite writing lift ‘The Wait’
Adobe Theater produces original play by John Goff
At least since Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick,” the sea has had a profound significance in American literature; from Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening” to Eugene O’Neill’s sea plays to Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea,” and so much more, American literature has found in the sea the perfect metaphor for the unfathomable abyss of existence: dangerous, certainly, but also a repository of gifts.
Every year, Adobe Theater produces an original play, at great financial risk, because new plays do not generate the audience that familiar titles do. This year, it is producing John Goff’s “The Wait,” a play about the sea that was adapted by the author from his own novel.
A California writer and actor, Goff is originally from Mississippi, where he worked briefly as a shrimper. The play dramatizes an especially tense couple of days in the lives of a shrimper named Git, the captain of a boat called The Auld Sod, his wife, Lila, and his son, Little, and girlfriend, Annie.
As in a play by Eugene O’Neill, whose influence is apparent, demons from the past emerge to haunt the central characters when confronted with a perilous challenge, particularly after Git retires and places the role of captain onto the shoulders of his son.
Sea novels and plays are always only ostensibly about the sea, and “The Wait” is no exception. More than anything else, the play is about faith, and particularly the courage to maintain it when those in your midst are not only destitute of the faith you possess but regard you as crazy or foolish for adhering to a worldview that recognizes the influence of supernatural power.
This is a lyrical and slow-moving play, much in the tradition of the playwrights from the mid-20th century that Goff admires so much: O’Neill, Williams, Inge and Miller. It will not be everybody’s cup of tea, as it requires patience and an ability to listen carefully and allow the drama to unfold at its own pace.
The lyricism of the writing is exquisite, but a play like this will prove ponderous if the actors are unable to plumb the depths of their own selves and engage the emotional content honestly. Thankfully, director Pete Parkin has assembled an excellent cast. I was especially impressed by Lorri Oliver as Lila. I’ve seen her act in other productions, but this was the first time she had material to work with that allowed her to reveal her depth and emotional intensity. She is fascinating to watch, even when quiet and still and not the focus of the scene.
The rest of the cast, stalwart thespians all, are equally adept at bringing the material to vivid life: Philip Shortell as Git, Michael Weppler as Little, Janine O’NeillLoffelmacher as Annie, and Vernon Poitras in the supporting role of Casty, another veteran of the sea who exhibits wisdom and compassion during the interminably tense wait.
My only complaint with the production was the quality of the voice that animated the voice-over in the play’s climactic scene. For me, at least, it lacked the ethereality and innocence to empower that key moment in the play.
“The Wait” is playing through Aug. 26 at Adobe Theater, 9813 Fourth NW, Albuquerque. Visit adobetheater.org or call 898-9222 for reservations.