A pointed pair

The Originals pull off The Woolgatherer

By Katherine Joyce

The Woolgatherer plays at the Saco River Grange Hall, in Bar Mills, through April 13. Call (207) 929-5412.

SHE SAID, HE SAID: Jennifer Porter and C. James Roberts deftly maneuver a delicate script.

Every once in a while, someone discovers a gem of a script. The Originals did just that in bringing The Woolgatherer to Bar Mills. William Mastrosimone, the playwright responsible for this script, is generally pretty famous among theater types, but The Woolgatherer is not by any means one of his best known works.

The play has an air of simplicity about it. With one set, two actors, and running less than two hours, the play tracks the short development of a relationship between two unique characters. What makes this particular script a gem is its power to move through a subtle combination of funny, sentimental, and disturbing moments. The dialogue is written with such delicacy, such attention to detail, that it effortlessly weaves complicated, romantic, wonderful characters.

The production of such a gem is always a dangerous thing. A company can either breathe life into the script, or take the breath right out of it. The cast and crew never want the audience to leave thinking that the script was wonderful, but the presentation disappointed. And with only two actors pulling the weight, there is no room for a weak performance.

The Originals have nothing to worry about.

The set is a simple studio apartment. The refrigerator is so old it might be the first kind to use electricity rather than ice. The windows are boarded up, and covered with lace curtains. There is a table with one chair. There is a bed, and a curtained door leads to the bathroom. It is simple and clean, somewhat sparse, but decidedly feminine.

Rose works behind the candy counter of a five-and-dime. This is where she meets Cliff, a truck driver whose truck had broken down. For reasons never fully explained, she invites Cliff up to her apartment. They have a strange dynamic, somehow intimate though it is clear that they barely know one another.

Cliff is a fasting-talking Jersey boy with a quick wit and a sharp tongue. Rose is a slower talking woman, both amused by Cliff’s wit and cut by his sharp tongue. His straight-faced sarcastic remarks catch her off guard, while her sensitivity and child-like innocence seem to soften Cliff’s hard façade. It is not hard to see that there is something bizarre about Rose’s mental state, but the quirk does not seem dangerous, only disturbing.

Here’s the situation: After the dialogue helps us fill in the story of how these two people got to this particular point, when Rose invited Cliff up to her apartment, the audience is faced with a conundrum. It seems as though Cliff, a man just passing through, and only stopping because his truck broke down, is there to sleep with Rose. It also seems as though Rose is aware of this. However, there is a gentleness mixed into their stilted banter that seems out of place in such a “wham bam thank you ma’am” scenario. Or rather, the taboo of that scenario seems out of place in their interactions.

Cliff is a survivor. Although his life is frustrating and lonely, he doesn’t let it get him down. He has a great New Jersey sense of humor that allows him to turn the most awful things into jokes (albeit dark jokes). Rose is a woolgatherer. She is damaged from a somewhat mysterious past, and cannot create a real relationship with a man. Instead, she collects the shirts and sweaters of the men that pass through her life, leaving her with a closet full of memories. She puts one on to remember the good qualities of the man to whom it belonged and to dream about what life would have been like with him.

Despite what appears to be incompatibility, these two humans are drawn together. They share a dysfunctional relationship with love — harboring both a deep fear of commitment and a longing for love. While Cliff cannot comprehend Rose’s oversensitivity and love of poetry, he finds himself trusting her. And while Rose is repelled by Cliff’s vulgarity, she is drawn to his desire to live “life before death” and his ability to laugh off the daily tragedies we all encounter.

The disarming charm and oddness of both characters is fully captured by the two actors, Jennifer Porter and C. James Roberts. Porter is enchanting as the hypersensitive and compassionate Rose. She captures the essence of this character with a compelling and confusing personality that reels in the audience as much as it does Cliff. Her psychological quirks are played without pretense. She owns the role.

Roberts matches Porter’s performance well. He lends great depth to a rough character. He balances his tough-guy attitude with a disarming gentleness that is as welcome as it is unexpected. He, too, plays his character as genuine and unpretentious. The combination of these two actors provides the audience with a charming, disturbing, and wonderful tale of compassion between two lost souls in South Philly. And under the skillful direction of Dana Packard, the time just flies by.

Katherine Joyce can be reached at ingliskat@aol.com.