By Special Guest Reviewer Lee Michael Stever***Storm clouds are rumbling and the walls are dripping with molten greasepaint at The Housing Works Bookshop (126 Crosby Street) in Manhattan. Debra Winger and Arliss Howard are setting off theatrical dynamite that has to be seen to be believed in D.L. Coburn’s The Gin Game, directed by David Blum, running through August 14. Having not been familiar with the original 1977 incarnation starring married couple Jessica 
Tandy and Hume Cronyn, I found a great filmed version and am I ever glad I did.
I’m still blown away by how dark this play is and that’s a reason the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Gin Game has become a much-produced and revived classic. The subtext, the nuance, the psychological elements involved here are like a masterclass in psychoanalysis. It’s a four-alarm nuclear strike of dramatic gravitas. There’s a tremendous amount to be learned from this play, the take-aways up for interpretation, part and parcel of its genius. The plot: in a run-down nursing home, Weller Martin and Fonsia Dorsey pass the time playing gin rummy. But what begins as a seemingly innocent pastime quickly devolves into a fierce battleground as conversation becomes a fiercely-fought battle of pride and self-preservation.
The Housing Works Bookstore revival transforms its space into an intimate theater where audiences sit just feet away from the action, making it feel more urgent and powerful than ever. The play is by turns funny and heartbreaking. Howard and Winger’s portrayals of Weller and Fonsia are nothing less than riveting as they confront their disappointments, regrets, and carefully-guarded illusions of old age; what begins as companionship turns into one of the most riveting duels in modern American theater.
What’s doubly intriguing about ‘The Gin Game is how incredibly free the actors are with finding their own way in fine tuning their characters. Howard and Winger have genuine chemistry, a push-pull dynamic that runs the gamut from flirtatious to downright nasty. It’s the kind of deep understanding of one’s scene partner—what turns them on and what enrages them—that can come from decades of marriage (probably what helped fuel Tandy and Cronyn). The dynamic was mined in their own ways by the likes of E.G. Marshall/Maureen Stapleton,
Charles Durning/Julie Harris, Dick Van Dyke/Mary Tyler Moore, James Earl Jones/Cicely Tyson and others who’ve previously taken the roles. These dynamic duos makes me want to sprint to the Lincoln Center Video Archives \and see what they’ve got to offer in their interpretations.
On a personal note, I can relate to the play’s narrative via a childhood experience: an unforgettable clash I had with my eldest brother’s wife while playing a board game. A question of rules came up and a battle of wills ensued that became ugly. Now, nearly 50 years later, the incident still exists but as somewhat of a violent, unpleasant ‘blur’ in my memory, Yet its escalation allows me insight into The Gin Game’s dynamic and worth a second look into passive/aggressive relationships and their complications. Maybe with deeper introspection we’ll understand why so many of us American’s are so freaking angry all the time.
For more info and to catch this play before it closes, click here.
