The Daily Journal

January 31, 2008

Can this man be saved?

“A Thousand Clowns” is placed in 1962 New York City, and is about an eccentric, middle-aged bachelor, Murray Burns (Louis Schilling), who may be the classic prototype of a breed of self-centered, middle-class New Yorkers, not uncommon in that era.

He is utterly irreverent, ignores most of the niceties of contemporary culture, and is not only openly contemptuous of general society, but revels in provoking it verbally, even with an assault upon the ears of his long suffering neighbors with a bullhorn through his windows. And he continually undercuts the self respect of his patient brother Arnold (Al Abraham), who, nevertheless, consistently tries to help him.

He and his one room apartment are a casual mess, from whence he often times exiles his on-site 12-year-old nephew, Nick (Riley Costello rotating with Gabriel Hoffman), so he may, with personal indifference, bed a succession of women.

However, he is a very employable television writer who, in a pique with his nutty employer, has left his lucrative position as head writer for a “kiddie show” five months before, and instead of searching for new employment, has been spending the days in movie houses.

This, he needs to keep secret from his intellectually gifted nephew Nick, who he inherited seven years earlier from his equally irresponsible and disappearing sister and Nick has become the most mature member of this family.

But, Murray is unable to dance away from one confrontation. After repeatedly ignoring official letters regarding Nick’s welfare in this shapeless environment, he verbally abuses Albert Amundson (Bobak Bakhtiari) and Sandra Markowitz (Breigh Zack), the Social Service case workers who arrive to observe the living conditions, interview him and to advise he may lose the nephew if he doesn’t shape up. Ever resourceful, Murray begins the counter attack by seducing the female psychologist of the pair.

So playwright Herb Gardner doesn’t deliver us a very nice guy, does he?

And that is the major challenge for any actor who undertakes this role. How does one portray a character who is reliving his “terrible twos” and yet make him likable and evoking sympathy from an audience by the end of the play?

With great difficulty, I would say!

But somehow Louis Schilling negotiates those rapids, as Murray is forced by the circumstances to painfully swallow his overblown ego and surrender much of his treasured independence, to retain custody of his beloved nephew.

And one comes to even more appreciate the immense sacrifice he is making when the neurotic and insecure employer Leo Herman (Mark Bowles), to whom he is reluctantly returning, shows up in the apartment to act out the next absurd scene from his “Chuckles the Chipmunk” show, complete with a six foot standing photo of himself and with munchy samples from his potato chip sponsors.

Bobak Bakhtiari excels as the rigid, humorless and tightly wound social worker who is slyly able to slip in a sympathetic touch by the end.

If precocious is ascribed to Nick in this play, then double precocious needs to be applied to 12 year-old Gabriel Hoffman and 13-year-old Riley Costello, who rotate in the role and invariably steal their scenes with all of those adults.

As the inexperienced psychologist, Breigh Zack morphs from the neurotic to the hysterical and finally to the controlling girl friend who, with the cooperation of Nick, is attempting to tame Murray and reorder the priorities in his life.

Will they succeed in bringing him back into the embracing arms of an ordered society?

Tune in and find out.