A Steady Rain at Chicago Dramatists
★★☆☆☆
Chicago Dramatists. By Keith Huff. Dir.
Russ Tutterow. With Peter DeFaria,
Randy Steinmeyer. 1hr 30mins;
no intermission.
Since debuting here in 2007, Keith Huff’s self-consciously butch police drama had a glamorous interim appearance on Broadway in a money-minting limited run starring action hotties Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig; Huff has gone on to write and produce for Mad Men. New York critics largely dismissed Huff’s script as a hokey procedural, focusing on the movie stars.
The play now returns as the inaugural project of the Chicago Commercial Collective, an initiative with the potentially admirable goal of keeping nonprofit theaters’ hits running. The CCC essentially re-creates the original production, with the same creative team, cast and venue. I first saw this production in its 2008 transfer to the Royal George, but the remount suggests that size matters. I thought the play seemed too small in that 150-seat theater; it’s hard to imagine how minuscule it might have read on a Broadway stage. Chicago Dramatists’ close quarters do much to enhance the intensity of Peter DeFaria and Randy Steinmeyer’s performances without visual tricks (though Mike Tutaj’s sound design is as evocative as his vivid projections in other shows).
Still, the magnified repeat view also enhances the steroidal quality of Huff’s script, a tale of two beat cops packed with lurid twists and overwritten clichés. It also makes clear the imbalance between the characters. We’re meant to see the recountings of deflating bad cop Denny and conflicted beta male Joey as competing threads, but now there’s little doubt that DeFaria’s Joey is the trustworthy voice, while Steinmeyer’s Denny is all muscle, no mass.—Kris Vire
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