Past Reviews

Regional Reviews: Albuquerque/Santa Fe


Regional Reviews

The Gin Game
East Mountain Centre for Theatre

Also see Caleb's review of Into the Woods


Georgia Athearn and Tim Reardon
Games are funny things. When armies pretend to go to war, they call it a game. When couples play a game, however, it can all too easily become war. That, in a nutshell, is the story of The Gin Game, the 37-year-old classic which is being presented in a sensitively acted and gracefully staged production at the Vista Grande Community Center in Sandia Park.

The game involved here is the eponymous gin game, which is the lever that playwright B.L. Coburn and director Cheryl Atkins use to pry open the passions, frustrations and sorrows of the only two characters, Fonsia Dorsey (Georgia Athearn) and Weller Martin (Tim Reardon). They are residents of a retirement home (the entire play transpires on the home's porch, a nicely designed and functional set) who become conversational friends and card-playing opponents. Both feel isolated, from their families as well as from their fellow residents at the home, who are seen only in shadows moving behind translucent windows. Fonsia and Weller turn to each other to ease the pains of loneliness until they discover too much about each other, and themselves.

The East Mountain Center for Theatre is fortunate in combining the talents of a highly experienced director and actors in the daunting task of reviving this Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, whose original production in 1977 starred Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn and was directed by Mike Nichols. That couple was succeeded by E. G. Marshall and Maureen Stapleton. Julie Harris and Charles Durning revived it in 1997. Tandy and Cronyn performed in a TV version in 1981, and Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore adapted it for television in 2002.

An interesting historical fact is that both Athearn and Atkins say they saw the original Cronyn-Tandy show and were so impressed that they determined some day to do the play themselves.

Athearn's performance as the shy, straight-laced, self-contained Fonsia is thoroughly convincing; so is the character's evolution as she becomes looser, more biting and teasingly taunting, then finally tragic. Martin charges into the bluff, aggressive, extroversive role of Tim with unstinting self-confidence; only gradually do we discover the weaknesses his apparently strong exterior hide. The actors, unlike Tandy and Cronyn and many other pairs who have performed this famous play, are not a couple.

Celebrating its 12th year, the East Mountain Center for Theatre will perform the comedy Greater Tuna June 20-29 and the original mystery Trans-Siberian Express in October. The company also runs a summer acting camp for children.

The play continues at Vista Grande on La Madera Road in Sandia Park on through April 13. Performances are: April 11 (at 7 p.m.), 12 (at 6:30 p.m.) and 13 (at 2 p.m.). The April 12 performance is a dinner show. For reservations and information call 505-286-1950 or visit emct.org.


Photo: Richard Atkins

--Wally Gordon