Butley, in the play of the same name, is a man in the death throes of two key relationships. His wife, seeking a divorce, wants to marry a man he despises. And his male lover, attaching himself to a younger man, wants to move out.
Bilious, alcoholic and weary, Butley sits in his cluttered professor’s office in an English university, striking out in spite and terror at any and all who come his way. As Joey, the young teacher (and lover) who shares his space, finally tells him, he has become a walking disaster, spreading futility wherever he goes.
But because he is bright and thoughtful, an English professor steeped in scholarly learning and attracted to nursery rhymes, even in decline and misery Butley is able to flaunt his first-rate mental agility. Vulnerable and self-loathing, he defends himself by skewering colleagues and students alike with volleys of scornful, scathing contempt.
Although this makes him a fascinating, very funny fellow, director Kate Buckley and actor William Brown have chosen not to turn him into an academic stand-up comic, zinging out one-liners. They’ve lost a few laughs this way, but by digging further into Butley’s torment, their production for Writers’ Theatre is darker, deeper and immensely more moving than one had thought possible in Simon Gray’s 1972 play.
In a career of smart, probing portrayals, this may be Brown’s finest hour. He’s fit himself perfectly into the portrait of a large, intelligent man gone to seed; and, not only does he show Butley’s keen wit, he has finely tuned every action and reaction in his intermixing with friends and foes, whether gleefully cooking up mischief or weepily sinking into wretchedness.
Buckley has deleted several bits of business from director Harold Pinter’s original staging, and added a few neat significant details of her own–the slightly askew portrait of T.S. Eliot, sole wall decoration in Butley’s office, being a case in point.
She also has softened the character of Joey, Butley’s gutless young lover, sympathetically played by Kevin Christopher Fox, by making him less smarmy and more likable than the text suggests. This may make his relationship with Butley more touching, but it also takes away the “creepy” quality that Butley’s wife (Karen Janes Woditsch, very sharp) sees in him.
Other portrayals are on the money. Buckley has the ability to bring out the best in an actor, as she once again demonstrates in the work of Deanna Dunagan. Never less than good, Dunagan is brilliant portraying a pinch-faced, pursed-mouth second-rate academician with tenderness and understanding.
Brief but telling bits also are created by Eric Slater as Joey’s new, strong lover; Kymberly Mellen as a nice, unfortunate student who comes within Butley’s firing range; and Todd Phillips as the cocky young rebel who may be next in line for Butley’s affections.
On stage in Writers’ Theatre’s vest-pocket auditorium, Butley, his cohorts and his milieu come vividly, memorably to life.
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“Butley”
When: Through April 1
Where: Writers’ Theatre at Books on Vernon, 664 Vernon Ave., Glencoe
Phone: 847-242-0316
