Watching losers lose can be cruel entertainment and a bit discomforting. Even if we audience members aren`t as dense or doomed as the losers, that`s paltry consolation.
”No Fury,” a darkly comic drama by Chicago playwright Andy Roski, depicts how dead-end desperation makes hope-starved people cling to any straw. Unfortunately, author/actor Roski doesn`t give us cause to care; his characters may be hungry for more and helpless to get it, but they`re too dumb to know themselves and too undeveloped to be worth knowing.
Morgan Marshfield (Roski), a Chicago dishwasher and frustrated novelist, has just returned from the funeral of his mother, a lifelong waitress. His pregnant wife, Eve (Caroline Cygan), eager to escape her ”hellhole,” urges Morgan to demand his mother`s inheritance from the rich family from whom the woman was estranged.
Further egging on Morgan is his best friend, Bobby (Peter DeFaria). Loud and violent, he`s a small-time thief and vegetable trucker, who, on the lam for murder, wants to hole up with Morgan.
”No Fury” not only has no payoff-it has no voice. All too often it apes ”American Buffalo”-in characters and situation and especially in the circularly repetitious dialogue. Like David Mamet`s masterpiece, it`s a portrait of paralyzed wills, of people too used to failing to ever break out of a lifetime of bad luck.
But where Mamet could turn an idiotic conversation inside out, Roski keeps us outside the inane exchanges and crossed-wire quibbles.
A world premiere from DemonLife Productions, Robert Maffia`s staging conveys some pathos amid the histrionics. But ”No Fury” lacks the mystery, comedy, psychology or drive to fill two acts.
At least Roski`s Morgan underscores the dishwasher`s deep-dyed resignation. DeFaria, who specializes in playing edgy misfits, brings a reliable combustibility to his rotten slob Bobby, while Cygan`s sarcastic, greedy Eve seems to dwell somewhere on the dark side of Alice Kramden.
”NO FURY”
A play by Andy Roski; directed by Robert Maffia and designed by Larry Underwood. Opened Feb. 7 at Urbus Orbis, 1934 W. North Ave. Plays at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and at 7 p.m. Sundays. Running time: 1.30. Tickets are $7. Phone 312-227-8971
