Pigs Eye Theatre - A Few Good Men: Review of A Few Good Men

A Few Good Men By Aaron Sorkin	Directed by Zach Curtis
May 23 - June 7, 2003 at Cedar Riverside People's Center

Review of A Few Good Men

by
StageView, KBEM Radio

May 26th, 2003

Pigs Eye Theatre concludes their season with a production of Aaron Sorkin’s A Few Good Men. Yes, I know this was also a big film with Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise and directed by Rob Reiner – so why see the play? Because a courtroom drama is made to be seen live – tension being played out feet away from you instead of on a flat screen. And Pigs Eye production, expertly directly by Zach Curtis, is indeed tense & thoroughly engaging.

Director Curtis has a talent for creating ensemble casts & well paced story telling and this is no exception. Michael Lee is the military attorney assigned to defend two Marines accused of killing another Marine during a disciplinary incident. Lee perfectly captures Lt. Daniel Kaffee – a man who runs from his father’s huge attorney shoes with wise cracks and by becoming the ultimate plea bargainer. Lee moves his character from a childish man who you’d like to shake to someone who finally claims his courtroom talents as his own...and for the right reasons.

Tim Perfect is the nice guy Lt. Weinberg, assistant in this defense – providing some comic relief but also speaking as the moral conscience of the play. Stacia Rice shows us the stiff backbone of Lt. Cmdr. Joanne Galloway – the crusading attorney who is long on passion but short on courtroom ability – for all her seeming humorlessness, Rice makes Galloway a woman we would want on our side.

Ryan Parker Knox and Steve Lattery play the two Marines accused of murder – providing wonderful counterpoint to one another. Lattery’s Dawson is basically a good man but all Marine – dedicated to the code of honor by which he has lived even if that honor is not ethically right. Knox’s Pfc. Downey is none too bright, out of his element in the legal world of words and quickness – his sweet request for the safety of his comic books while he is in prison is a moment that Knox plays perfectly – not too cloying but with just the right amount of pathos.

Dwight Gunderson is touching as Capt. Markinson, a Marine who has lost his taste for the cruelty of the code. Brandon Aarowood is terrifying as Lt. Kendrick – a religious man who has no mercy for weakness in anyone.

And Alex Cole is Lt. Col Jessup – the ambitious commander who has few scruples about doing anything to “protect his country.” Cole does not waste time giving this man much charm – his Jessup is all about power and being fearless in using it – he is relaxed as he makes crude sexual suggestions to Joanne Galloway, confident and unafraid as he enters the courtroom to face men he sees as weak enemies.

Add to this mix a superb cast of supporting characters, a khaki and navy monotone palate from costumer Elin Anderson and great sound design by Mike Hallenbeck, and you have a engrossing evening of theatre. I can assure you – never once do you miss Tom Cruise.

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