The Gin Game Gracefully Tackles Large Truths on an Intimate Scale

By Gerry Roe; photo by Shelley Klimes

Old Creamery - The Studio Stage presents D. L. Coburn’s 1977 Pulitzer-Prize-winning The Gin Game in an intimate production most suitable to the apparent scale of the play. Two lonely people, residents of a retirement home, come together to play gin rummy. Gradually, painfully, reveal their stories to each other. Ultimately, the play tackles big issues, caught in microcosm in the characters of Weller Martin and Fonsia Dorsey, relatively new residents of the home, who face a future there of isolation and dwindling possibilities.

Weller, played by Tom Milligan, convinces Fonsia, played by Kay Francis, to join him in a game of gin rummy. Fonsia at first declines, claiming ignorance of the game, but relents upon learning that the game is a version of rummy, with which she is familiar. Playing cards had been considered sinful by her father, an Old Methodist, who strongly disapproved of card-playing. Yet somewhere along the way, Fonsia has apparently broken with some of the old restrictions and somewhat reluctantly joins Weller in the game.

Weller considers himself an expert in the game and is surprised when Fonsia wins repeatedly. With each loss, Weller reveals his frustration and short temper. And so it goes throughout the two acts of the play. Watching two people play cards doesn’t seem like the stuff of high drama and yet Milligan and Francis, with help from the playwright, make it so. With great skill the two actors draw us in. With each hand of the game the drama intensifies. With each development the playwright makes it clear that the play is not just about a card game but about the game of life.

In the intimacy of the Studio Stage, the actors’ skills are challenged; nothing can be false. The game must be played truly, and Milligan and Francis are more than up to the challenge. Go to see this play, not just for the story, but for the beauty of the performances. With great subtlety, the two actors make every action and reaction credible and moving. Each of them reaches far beyond the trivialities of a game of cards to reveal the lives of two lonely people and they do it with style and grace.

The play is very ably directed by Deborah Kennedy on a telling and evocative set designed by Tom Milligan. This is a play that should be seen to appreciate the large truths exhibited in a setting devoid of spectacle. Pure theatre, well evoked by the playwright and beautifully illustrated by two fine performances.

The Gin Game runs through April 29, 3:00 Sundays and Thursdays and 7:30 Fridays and Saturdays on the Old Creamery Studio Stage. Tickets are $27 for adults and $17.50 for students. Check the website for more information or to purchase tickets.