THE BASICS: THE ONION GAME, by Brian Delaney, directed by ICTC Associate Director Greg Natale, starring Stan Klimecko, Kelly Meg Brennan, Johnny Barden, Bennett Goldberg, Ray Boucher, and David Lundy, presented by Irish Classical Theatre runs through June 26, Wednesdays – Fridays at 7:30 pm, Saturdays at 3, Sundays at 2. 716.853.4282 irishclassical.com. Strict Covid protocols – both vax proof and masks required; the bar is closed.
Runtime: 2 hours 30 minutes, including one 10-minute intermission
THUMBNAIL SKETCH (adapted from ICTC): Onion, an onion farmer, and his wife Pearl are miserably married. Ogie, their teenage son, is unhappy and his life goal is to become a pimp. Their young daughter Milly, whom apparently Onion didn’t want, is starved for affection from anyone and is starting to display increasingly strange behavior, for example, collecting dead flies. As Onion struggles to write the Great Irish Novel, Pearl covers the house in glass beads, and they each secretly plot each other’s ruin. Others are recruited as allies and with treachery afoot, nothing, absolutely nothing is as it seems. Words taken from both the playwright’s and director’s notes include “dark,” “brutal” “extreme,” “demented,” “dysfunctional,” and “disturbing” to grab just a few.
THE PLAYERS, THE PLAY, AND THE PRODUCTION: I first saw THE ONION GAME (actually sitting next to the playwright) during its short-lived opening week at the ICTC back in 2020, and, as with many other endeavors halted by Covid, that shutdown wasn’t entirely a bad thing. The production seems to have gained focus during the hiatus. If you saw it before, try it now. It feels tighter.
This is the second play produced by the Irish Classical Theatre written by their Playwright-in-Residence, Bryan Delaney. And his THE SEEDBED (review here) was also about a dysfunctional Irish family and was also directed by Greg Natale.
Stan Klimecko is, without doubt, one of Buffalo’s finest actors, and seems to have found a niche in somewhat dark, bizarre plays portraying sleazy characters, for example, “Ed” in ENTERTAINING MR. SLOAN (review here) or “Cosmo” in THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE (review here).
Once again he is superbly cast as a man of wide moral latitude with big dreams and big schemes, simultaneously hypervigilant and clueless.
Kelly Meg Brennan has also returned for this run and displays a wonderful blend of frustrated anger (usually aimed at her husband) and dottiness as she continues to cover every surface in the house with glass beads. We have never forgotten watching her one-woman performance in THE UNFORTUNATES (review here).
put on by Red Thread Theatre directed by Josephine Hogan where we wrote: “It would be hard to overstate Kelly Meg Brennan’s acting abilities…. She’s sexy, fierce, pitiful, haughty in quick succession.” All still true.
And the third previous Artie Award winner on stage is another favorite actor, David Lundy, who takes on two roles, most marvelously as “Publisher” of Onion’s novel, very much aided and abetted by recent Artie Award winner, Costume Designer Vivian Del Bello and Hair/Makeup Designer Susan Drozd.
Ray Boucher mugs his way through the role of Jaques, the hired hand. Johnny Barden is a very physically active Ogie and Ms. Bennett Goldberg has a somewhat thankless role as the afterthought child, Millie, conceived through malice aforethought. The actors are fine, the set by David King is nicely detailed with just enough furniture and props to tell the story, and everyone is able to maintain consistent Irish accents throughout the play, thanks to dialect coach Josephine Hogan.
That’s all the good stuff. Now on to the rest.
The music played before the play and during the intermission is some god-awful playlist including the Rubberbandits, an Irish comedy hip-hop duo from Limerick city. Their music videos are amusing, but sitting in a darkened theater without the benefit of visuals, their sound is pretty hard to take. Sound Designer Tom Makar seldom makes a mistake, so I’m sure it was all on purpose.
From the words quoted in the thumbnail above, you might get a hint at the un-redeeming nature of the characters. It’s not playwright Delaney’s fault. I believe that he’s caught up in the international zeitgeist. I first saw this coming several years ago watching the international Oscar-nominated short films (animated and live-action) and how dark themes of missing children, abduction, betrayal, murder, death, bestiality, and rape were replacing earlier decade’s themes of loving and caring and sharing. Here in America, we might dabble in dystopia, but only to set up a hero or heroine, even if it’s a dark and brooding one, such as Batman or Jessica Jones. That’s the way we are wired. But the rest of the world doesn’t have what I’ll call “our Disney DNA.”
In the playwright’s note, Bryan Delaney writes: “I … wanted to take a risk by trying to generate … laughter with some pretty dark (some might say brutal) themes and material…to make you uncomfortable as you are being amused.” He succeeded! Delaney continues “For me, the most interesting way to tackle the darker elements I wanted to explore was to play with exaggeration and extreme behavior to refract our human flaws back to us through a kind of demented prism.” Okay, another check mark.
So, now that you know a little bit about this play, you can perhaps see my rating dilemma: Three Buffalos? (“I still have my issues, but …”) Or Four Buffalos? (“If the genre/content are up your alley, I would make a real effort to attend.”) “If” being the operative word there.
*HERD OF BUFFALO (Notes on the Rating System)
ONE BUFFALO: This means trouble. A dreadful play, a highly flawed production, or both. Unless there is some really compelling reason for you to attend (i.e. you are the parent of someone who is in it), give this show a wide berth.
TWO BUFFALOS: Passable, but no great shakes. Either the production is pretty far off base, or the play itself is problematic. Unless you are the sort of person who’s happy just going to the theater, you might look around for something else.
THREE BUFFALOS: I still have my issues, but this is a pretty darn good night at the theater. If you don’t go in with huge expectations, you will probably be pleased.
FOUR BUFFALOS: Both the production and the play are of high caliber. If the genre/content are up your alley, I would make a real effort to attend.
FIVE BUFFALOS: Truly superb–a rare rating. Comedies that leave you weak with laughter, dramas that really touch the heart. Provided that this is the kind of show you like, you’d be a fool to miss it!
