Issue #43
Last Update December 24, 2005
Arts Half Life by David Katz September 10, 2005 Playwrights are an endangered species. Although many fledgling writers would like to write plays, the expense involved in bringing their works to the stage prevents most of them from ever seeing their words ,performed, outside of university readings. Robert Moulthrop has been fortunate in having his work, "Half Life", performed as part of the International Fine Festival in New York. The festival, and especially the audiences, have been well rewarded. Half Life deals with a difficult subject: the reintegration into society of a sexual offender.
Directed by Theresa K. Pond, "Half Life" won the Fringe Festival's Best Playwright award for Mr. Moulthrop. The play deals with the hostility encountered by Douglas, an ex-junior high school science teacher (and by all accounts a good one) from neighbors and his own daughter when he returns home after a two-year prison term for "inappropriately touching" one of his students. Mr. Moulthrop has an ear for dialogue and a talent for keeping his audience wondering, and thus involved in the dramatic arc of the play. Douglas, ably played by Mark Lynch, is a bit bewildered by his freedom, but happy to be home with his wife Eleanor. Cynthia Foster gives a believable, poignant performance as the faithful spouse determined to hold the marriage together and start anew despite pressure from neighbors to move.
As Douglas' history is revealed scene by scene, we begin to doubt his protestations of change. Barred from teaching and unable to get any other kind of professional job, he tries to earn a living by telephone sales. He skips his medications from time to time, and is finally caught by his wife chatting up a teenager who answered one of his sales calls when her parents were out. At the end, his wife has finally given up on him and he seems certain to become a repeat offender.
The remainder of the cast, Phyllis (Michele Fulves), the next door neighbor who was a good, if reluctant, friend to Eleanor during the two years of Douglas' incarceration, Bob (Cameron Hughes), Douglas' best friend, now president of the local Chamber of Commerce who won't put himself out on a limb by trying to get Douglas a job, and Denise (Anna Chlumsky), the daughter who refuses to see Douglas on his return and won't let him near her baby daughter, performed difficult roles with professionalism. Anna Chlumsky was especially good at conveying the hurt and humiliation she was subject to after her father's conviction, and her inability to forgive him without some explanation of his behavior.
What makes the subject of the play so difficult, and so well handled by Mr. Moulthrop, is that the audience starts out hoping for a miracle, the redemption of the main character, and is led slowly to see that this is not possible. The dramatic conflicts evaporate as the intolerant neighbors are proven right, and yet the play remains taut as we explore the internal anguish of all who ever cared for Douglas and are disappointed or outraged at his new failure. Mr. Moulthrop’s promise as a playwright deserves further opportunities to shine.
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