Dobama Theatre’s ‘The Flick’ is a well paced and gentle theatrical ride
We have all had at least one… “That Job.” You know the one. It provided spending money in high school or beer money during college and was a mind numbing routine of performing the same action over and over again. For many it served as a kicking off place in which to gauge our future success or failure (“Yes, working in a cubical sucks but it beats the heck out of my first job flipping burgers”). Occasionally we would be paired with “lifers” who were perfectly content staying where they were in spite of the drudgery and low pay. We however had much bigger plans for our life.
In Annie Baker’s The Flick directed by Nathan Motta and now playing at Dobama Theatre just such a scenario plays out. The play won Baker a much deserved Pulitzer Prize in 2014 and for good reason.
Annie Baker writes her plays out in real time letting each scene unfold at a natural pace. Depending on where you see this particular show it can run anywhere from two and a half hours to over three hours (it depends on how big the theater set is).
Sam (Christopher Bohan *) is a lifer at one of the few remaining movie theaters in Massachusetts that still shows movies the old fashioned way using 35mm film. Avery (Gordon Hinchen+) is his protégé whom he is showing the ropes. Avery is a very serious film buff who thinks that digital projections are a tool of the devil.
Avery also has an amazing memory concerning actors and what roles they played in which movies and with what other actors. Rounding out the trio is Rose (Paige Klopfenstein+) who works as the projectionist. Sam is upset that he was passed over as the projectionist in favor of Rose since he had seniority. Sam is also secretly infatuated with Rose even though she is absolutely the wrong choice for him as a partner.
Over the course of the play the two men sweep the theater down, collect the various flotsam left by the patrons finishing with a wet mopping after the last show. During this time we find that Avery has taken a year off from college in order to reset his life. He is a young black man from a good family who is trying to deal with an assortment of phobias and eccentricities that have nearly crippled him socially.
Rose suffers from an ailment common among female twenty somethings. Her romantic trysts begin well but soon lose their savor as she jumps from boy to boy to boy in the hopes of finding true love.
Sam is jealous of his older brother who is mentally challenged and is getting married at the age of thirty nine to a spouse of like mental disposition. Sam has accepted his life of doing the same thing at the same job while living in the attic of his parent’s house. It is his fate.
The two veterans convince Avery to join them in a theater tradition whereas they keep and resale 10% of the tickets using the money to buy their dinners with. At first Avery is dead against it but is soon persuaded by the others to join in. Soon rumors abound that the absentee owner is thinking of selling the theater to someone who will be replacing the antique projector with a state of the art video projector causing turmoil in the ranks especially when the dinner money scam is uncovered.
The trio of actors (who are joined from time to time by Nate Miller+ as a sleeping vagrant and new employee, Skylar) deal with the mundane in novel ways. To fill in the time, Sam challenges Avery to a game of “Six Degrees of Separation” giving two actor’s names that the young man has to pair with a variety of acting duos until reaching the second name.
Other than Sam professing his love for Rose in one scene and Rose putting the make on Avery, the only other “excitement” comes from when Avery discovers that someone has defecated in the men’s room forcing Avery to get sick. Sam grabs his mop like a spear and dramatically accepts the challenge in the tradition of his movie idols, charging off to clean up the disgusting mess.
The set by Jill Davis uses actual seating from an old theater (the same as is what in current use at Dobama). The back wall houses the antique projector (purported to have been found in the basement of the Cedar Lee Theatre) and when the lights in the faux theater go dim Marcus Dane does his lighting Design magic to simulate the flickering light of the projector. Nathan Motto does a fine job directing by allowing the pace to flow along at a natural rhythm.
There is very little objectionable language and a small bit of stimulated sex. If you are offended, stay home for this one.
This is one of those Slice of Life dramas that make live theater so intriguing. No blood is spilled, no fights break out and the excitement level is kept pretty low key. The most dramatic moments happen between the scenes when famous movie themes are blasted (including the earth shaking THX intro). Yet we find ourselves drawn into the lives of these individuals hoping for the best in their lives.
Tickets are $29-32 with Senior & Student discounts available. Call the Box Office at (216) 932-3396. Walk up box office hours are Wednesdays through Saturdays until 3-25-2017, from 12 noon to 4 p.m.