Once in Doubt
Image © Lisa Ebright
Once in Doubt” handles risk-taking successfully
Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Ill.; Jun 29, 1992; Richard Christiansen, Chief critic.
Raymond J. Barry’s “Once in Doubt” at the Remains Theatre puts its three actors way out on a limb, which it constantly threatens to saw off.
Eventually, the branch does snap, crashing play and players to a sudden end; but for the approximately 90 minutes (with intermission) that this surreal comedy does go on, the three Remains actors out there alone on that limb do some mighty wild and most impressive dancing.
The three actors in question are William Petersen, Amy Morton and Gerry Becker, all members of the Remains ensemble who grew up in Chicago theater and have since then, without ever abandoning their roots, branched out into enlarged careers of movie and television work.
The stage, however, is their native habitat, and with “Once in Doubt,” directed with skill and gusto by the author, these mature artists have returned home, taking one acting risk after another in a play that requires them to carry on like demented children while at the same time seriously addressing the heavy issues of art and sex.
Barry’s script, a barrage of conscious and unconscious thought that’s spit out in rapid fire by the threesome, has a fiery, though sometimes fuzzy, impact; but its battering-ram dialogue doesn’t stand a chance of being communicated without this production’s zany, impassioned delivery.
The play’s first half, set on a pure-white stage, is devoted to a ferocious-and hilarious-battle of the sexes between a self-absorbed, suicidal painter (Petersen) and his longtime love-hate companion (Morton).
Wanting desperately to create art out of his being, the artist literally gives his life’s blood to his latest work, at the same time trying to deal with the crazy pressures of his feelings toward his lover.
In the second half, artist and lover are joined by a neighbor, Mr. Wagner (Becker), a prosaic civilian who gets caught in their cross-fire, becomes a part of their warfare, and becomes enraptured with the strange, mystifying, exciting process of making art-and having sex.
Petersen, in a role that stretches his acting range (not to mention his powers of enunciation), gives a bravura performance of screwball tragedy, becoming both ridiculous and heroic in his obsession with his art.
Morton, tall and svelte and working in high comic style, is glamorous and gawky, sexy and silly, infuriating and endearing, foul-mouthed and prim as the bizarre love of his life; and Becker, enthusiastically intruding himself into their high-energy attacks, is a superbly baffled and mundane partner in their combat zone.
If, in the end, “Once in Doubt” goes on a little too long before coming to its abrupt ending, it’s hardly noticeable amid the thrilling roller-coaster ride that Barry and his three players provide.
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