Orange County Premiere!

Never In My Lifetime
by Shirley Gee
Directed by Jocelyn A. Brown

Back Stage West Critic's Pick

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THEATER ARTICLE

Never In My Lifetime
by Les Spindle, Back Stage West

May 4, 2006

Director Jocelyn A. Brown is glad that the decades-long Irish Republican Army battles with Britain have largely given way to attempts at peaceful negotiations. Yet she points out that in recent weeks, there have been news reports of political assassinations and other outbursts of violence in Northern Ireland. This underlines the reality that certain political conflicts in the world never go away. Brown chose to bring Shirley Gee's 1983 play Never in My Lifetime to Anaheim's Chance Theater for its West Coast premiere because she believes there are timeless lessons to be gleaned from its balanced and thoughtful depiction of the IRA movement and its ramifications.

Brown says many plays about the conflicts in Ireland tend to be propagandistic, but not this one. The issues are complex. "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter," she notes. It is especially meaningful to her because many of her ancestors lived in Northern Ireland. She explains, "The play is a poetic illustration of how ordinary people justify and cope with conflict and terrorism, and how soldiers are affected through either the defense of their homeland or occupation of a foreign land." She notes that these issues resonate today in areas far beyond Ireland, adding, "I chose to direct it because of its universality on the effects of war and the human spirit's ability to find humor, love, and something precious amid these conditions."

The play, set in 1974 at the height of the rebellion, two years after the Bloody Sunday massacre, is composed of monologues interspersed with scenes, presented in a realistic style. There are six characters. The pivotal ones are a mother and a British soldier's wife; they provide perspective to the episodes, which lead to surprising conclusions.

Brown says the Chance has about 26 members and always holds open public auditions. The members must compete for the roles along with others who show up. The only preferential treatment members get is that they are allowed to show up at callbacks without attending the initial casting sessions. "We can tell which members really want to work for it, because they come to the auditions very prepared," notes Brown. "A big challenge in this show is the use of dialects." She adds that a good dialect coach became involved with the group a few years ago and yields fine results. In conclusion, Brown, who acts and directs at Chance, spoke of the company's casting philosophy: "We are not a showcase theatre. We always try to cast actors who are artists, ready to push themselves-take risks and really put themselves out there. We look for well-rounded artists willing to pull back their sleeves and work hard. No divas are allowed."

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THEATER REVIEW

Passion, amid Ireland's ruins, comes to the Hills
Chance Theater depicts how love crosses battle lines in "Never In My Lifetime"
by Anne-Margret Bellavoine, Anaheim Hills News

May 11, 2006

Shirley Gee's "Never In My Lifetime" at the Chance Theater shows daily lives changed and destroyed by the protracted ongoing feud between Irish and British.

Casualties extend beyond deadly combat when Tessie (Courtney Hayes), a young Irish lass, falls for enemy soldier Tom (John M. Jurchek).

Tom’s mate is Charlie (Bob Simpson) who left an angry pregnant wife behind in England (Heather Howe). Tessie’s best friend Maire (Katherine Wewers) becomes engaged in the partisan fight after a neighbor is savagely beaten.

Tessie’s mother (Annie Mezzacappa) attempts to remain neutral, seeing only the shattered lives which result from the conflict. Tom must confront the realities of violence in uniform.

Two women, two young girls and two soldiers, each wrapped into their reality and beliefs, try to come to terms with the daily regimen of violence around them. Life goes on, with love blossoming and babies being born even in the face of death.

The absurdist, tragic consequences fester as each camp stubbornly continues the fight without any seemingly possible resolution.

Jocelyn Brown, with Irish roots herself, directs the piece with a sensitive hand and the right touches of raw emotion.

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THEATER REVIEW

'Lifetime' strewn with tragedy
In O.C. premiere, drama reflects on 1974 Northern Ireland and the nature of the cycle of violence
by Eric Marchese, O.C. Register

May 12, 2006

It doesn't take long to predict that the unhappy outcome depicted in "Never in My Lifetime" is preordained, which is the definition of tragedy. Shirley Gee's award-wining 1984 drama is a tragedy of human if not epic proportions not unlike the conflict it's based upon, the murderous civil unrest that rocked Northern Ireland for decades.

Considering the animosity brewing between the two sides from the 1960s and beyond, Gee saw that the problems of two little people didn't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.

It doesn't take much for us to see this, either, and that's what gives the play's Orange County premiere, at the Chance Theater, its force.

Knowing the mutual hatred of both sides in advance (much like "Romeo and Juliet") elicits a slow-motion, nightmare sort of dread - especially once we see Tessie (Courtney Hayes), a native of Belfast, becoming attracted to Tom (John M. Jurcheck), a British soldier stationed there.

The genial, self-deprecating Tom asks Tessie out. Knowing the danger involved, she rejects the idea - but the seeds have been sowed, leading to a bloody conclusion that's no less poignant for its predictability.

Gee never preaches, leaving room for disparate voices. Tessie's mother (Annie Mezzacappa) is weary after a lifetime of seeing "too much hate in the world." As moderate is Tom, who proclaims that history "is just a list of bloody awful things." No one watching "Lifetime," however, can escape the realization that the attack-and-reprisal mechanism that made Northern Ireland so lethal is still seen today in hot spots the world over, inviting us to meditate on the nature of armed conflicts' cycle of violence.

Tom's sergeant and best buddy, Charlie (Bob Simpson), hates the Irish; his blunt Cockney speech and forthright mannerisms seem harsh compared with Tom's. Tessie's best friend, Maire (Katherine Wewers), hates the British and has become involved with the Irish Republican Army ("Remember our history and forget the Squaddies (British)," she urges Tessie). Through their outstanding portrayals, Simpson and Wewers warn their increasingly deaf pals to quit playing with fire.

A sixth character, Charlie's wife (a poignant Heather Howe), shows the Irish-British conflict's effect on the home front in England: Charlie continues to re-up for tours of duty in Ireland, leaving his wife alone, terrified he'll be killed. During the story's arc - a several-month period in 1974 - her pregnancy amplifies her fears, her character shedding light on Gee's maxim that "wives and the army are like oil and water."

Director Jocelyn A. Brown gives Gee's text a naturalistic handling, and her uniformly fine cast responds with performances that manage to be realistic and gritty even while voicing some of the script's more poetic lines.

Like Romeo, Tom's the one whose ardent romanticism prevents him from seeing there's no way his love for Tessie can conquer all - and, like Juliet, Tessie is the more level-headed of the two, her doubts overshadowing even her most blissfully happy moments with Tom.

Tom's Yorkshire background gives him a lilting, singsong manner of speaking and a lack of worldliness that only make more emphatic the explosiveness of the situation surrounding him and Tessie. Jurcheck plays up his innocence (some would call it naiveté) and a fanciful sense of humor that disarms Tessie - and us.

Hayes answers with a Tessie who's generally sensible, yet willing to check reality at the door long enough to entertain the fantasy of running away with Tom, giving us the young lady's alternating bliss and despair.

In the closing scenes, Maire informs Tessie that the IRA insists she help them ambush Tom and Charlie's unit (reprisal for an earlier injustice) or face torture or death herself, giving the play's gentle, tentative love story a nasty injection of reality.

Brown gives these scenes the needed suspense, her staging often placing Howe and Mezzacappa (or, less frequently, others), at the set's corners as "witnesses." The technique creates more visual interest than any sort of dramatic resonance, and Hayes, Wewers and Mezzacappa's Irish dialects don't always ring true, but this cast wrings out the terrible pain, sorrow and loss felt by their characters, giving audiences a lot to think about.

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THEATER REVIEW

Back Stage West Critic's Pick

Never In My Lifetime
by Shirle Gottlieb, Back Stage West

May 18, 2006

To say Shirley Gee's award-winning drama-about life in London and Northern Ireland in 1974 (two years after Bloody Sunday)-is demanding is an understatement. Jocelyn A. Brown brilliantly directs a six-member ensemble through Gee's painful, poetic study of a love story set in the shadow of two fiercely opposing factions that are determined to destroy each other. Like blood brothers in so many parts of the world, the inbred hatred between England and Northern Ireland seems implacable.

Everything about this pristine production is polished to perfection; that includes the actors who turn in flawless performances, Masako Tobaru's abstract set design and James Jones III's foreboding lighting, Casey Long's chilling sound, Martin Noyes' fight direction, and Glenda Morgan Brown's dialect instruction-all of it in support of Gee's heartfelt plea for forgiveness and understanding.

Such plea goes ignored. From our first sight of the young wife (Heather Howe) begging her husband, Charlie (the superb Bob Simpson), to stay in London until their baby is born, we know how it will end. From the first words uttered by the distraught mother (Annie Mezzacappa) pleading with her strong-willed daughter (Katherine Wewers) not to join the Provisional IRA, we know what will happen. As for the star-crossed lovers caught in the web of intense national hatred, Courtney Hayes and John M. Jurcheck turn in charming portrayals that are so touching and believable they break our hearts. Think Romeo and Juliet in Northern Ireland, and bring plenty of Kleenex.

Presented by and at the Chance Theater, 5552 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim. Sat. 4 p.m., Sun. 6 p.m. May 6-Jun. 11. (714) 777-3033. www.chancetheater.com.

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