‘The Gin Game’ is mildly intoxicating

Really, there are plenty of things in life that could use a good cussing, and Weller Martin knows them all. Dishonest friends, neglectful family, bad health, bad luck, bad cards — and a gin rummy partner who wins every hand and does it with a sweet smile. I’d cuss, too, if I were living off public assistance in a dilapidated old folks’ home (that’s what they’re called when they look like this) and my only friend was Fonsia Dorsey.

Wayside’s second show of its 48th season is D.L. Colburn’s Pulitzer and Tony Award winning “The Gin Game,” a hit on Broadway in 1977 when it starred Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy. Only two actors appear in this two-act “dramedy.” Veteran Wayside performers James Laster and Faith Potts, under direction of Warner Crocker, play off each other like a pair of familiar dance partners, backward, forward, changing tempo, leading, following. It all looks so easy, but there’s a storm brewing beneath.

Through the medium of seemingly endless card games, Weller and Fonsia play it close to the vest. They look for advantages, they prod for weaknesses, they reveal only part of their hands to each other in their own self-edited version of their lives. For Weller, it all boils down to luck. In work, in life, in family, and now in cards — he just doesn’t have any. Fonsia, it seems, has it all. Then why is she in this place and why doesn’t her son ever come see her?

Revelations begin to line up like a straight flush in Act II as Weller, probing furiously at the edges of Fonsia’s well-bred reserve, forces her to show her hand. Is it luck, or have they both lived lives that could only end here among the patio junk of a depressed last stop on the way to death? “The Gin Game” never pretends to be just a card game with two troubled old people; this is metaphor for life all the way. Two used-up, worn out seniors spend their days searching the cards for a little good fortune. One finds it and accepts it as her due. The other never finds it and curses his relentless fate. Both keep their eyes on the score.

Two-character plays can be tricky with their heavy burden equally distributed on only two sets of acting shoulders, but Laster and Potts rise gracefully to the task. Laster’s character is a blister all the way, while Potts goes through the guarded evolution from remote but polite newcomer to cornered tiger, a woman who fought with life to find her advantage only to be trumped in the end.

Til Turner’s detailed set establishes a clear sense of futility. Tools, old board games, a discarded sink line the small outdoor area where Weller and Fonsia meet for their gin games. Adding to the faint scent of despair are the metallic-bright voices from inside where youthful volunteers try to teach the old folks to dance. There are moments when Weller’s stream of blue language actually makes sense.

Sound designer Steve Przybylski adds subtle ambient noises to the mix as well as a startling thunder and lightning storm right about the time that Fonsia hits her breaking point. However, music between scenes intended to underscore the immediate themes misses the mark. With the exception of Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler,” it’s difficult to even make out what the songs are. Catherine Lovejoy’s costumes do their job, effectively revealing Weller in all his “the hell with it” glory and disguising Fonsia in the self-respecting pastels that hide her emotional thorns.

“The Gin Game” moves swiftly, just two hours with intermission, but the dynamic between the characters makes time a non-issue.

Laster and Potts wisely avoid the “cute old person” trap and layer in a complex mix of frustration, humor, defiance and hope. References to society’s view of aging and life at the end of long life are unavoidable, and Weller’s acerbic comments sucker punch all those euphemisms about “golden years.”

This is a strong piece for grown-ups and not just because of the language.

Margaret Lawrence is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association. She teaches English and drama at CCHS.

Want to go?
What: “The Gin Game”
Where: Wayside Theatre Middletown, Va.
Call: (540) 869-1776 or visit waysidetheatre.org
Playing through Aug. 15