Bad Habit Productions’ SOMEONE WHO’LL WATCH
OVER ME (playing through Nov. 16th) is a must see. When you hear
it’s a play about three hostages held by Arab captors, you assume it’s another
harrowing, ripped-from-the-headlines account of torture and inhumanity. There
are so many television programs about kidnappings in the Middle
East, that you could watch one every evening. I can’t.
SOMEONE WHO’LL WATCH OVER ME isn’t one of
them…any more than THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION is just another prison movie. Frank
McGuiness’ extraordinary play confirms the beauty and power of the mind to cope
with the unthinkable…the resiliency of the spirit to bear the unbearable and
the indomitability of the will to survive. Most of all, SOMEONE is a shining
testament to the strength of friendship.
Director A. Nora Long’s remarkable production
celebrates the humanity which cannot be broken as easily as the body. We never
see the violence outside the clanking metal door because McGuiness is more
concerned with how someone thinks, what someone does to keep his sanity…his
humor…his resolve when hope wears paper thin. Long adds connective tissue to
the play by having one long chain run through all their manacles. With one yank
of that chain, the Irishman can annoy the American doctor by impeding his
perfectly executed push-ups.
Sheldon Brown gives an elegant, heartbreaking
performance as the cool American with the most accumulated time in captivity.
Greg Balla is sensational as the feisty Irish photojournalist who almost gives
up and Jeff Mahoney radiates kindness as the unassuming Brit, newly arrived in Lebanon to
teach English. Mahoney’s tour de force as the seemingly helpless Chaucer professor
lifts their spirits and gives them the courage to persevere. You won’t find
better ensemble work anywhere around. Bad Habit Productions does it again!