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O’Neill’s revealing conversation piece
REVIEW: HUGHIE
Acton Community Theatre
IN many of his works, including Long Day’s Journey Into Night and The Iceman Cometh, Eugene O’Neill explores the reality behind the facade we show the world.
Set in the reception hall of a hotel, this perspective is used in Hughie. The subject of the title is a night clerk whose personality diffuses the play but is never seen. Instead, we meet Erie (Eric Colvin), a professional gambler and “flashy” guy, boasting of his success with Ziegfield showgirls and friendships with big-time criminals like Legs Diamond.
Erie also bemoans the death of Hughie to the hotel’s new night clerk (Jack Courtney). His name, strangely enough, is Charles Hughes.
Through their conversation, we begin to understand the truth behind Erie’s boastful persona. Hughes is a fascinating contrast to Erie – he has few words, all he seems to want is quiet. Jack Courtney’s body language and polite, laconic exchanges raise the speculation.
O’Neill, the younger son of a close but dysfunctional family, spent much of his youth in saloons, seedy hotels and bars mixing with those who had lost hold of their dreams; slaves to drugs, drink and easy living. Although written in the 1940s, the play is set in 1928, in the period of prohibition and just before the crash in America. O’Neill was a left-leaning writer, and some have seen the play as a metaphor for capitalism.
Director Mark Shaer creates a vivid period atmosphere, generating a masterly performance from Colvin as Erie and a clever, subtle performance from Jack Courtney as Hughes.
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