'Melville Boys' funny, but has contrived feel
"The Melville Boys" sounds like a vaudeville act. Or at least something about the progeny of the author responsible for "Moby Dick."
Actually, "The Melville Boys" is an enjoyable, if contrived, comic drama of sibling rivalry by Canadian playwright Norm Foster. Buffalo Theatre Ensemble serves up a handsome Midwest premiere of Foster's 1984 play, though the staging also has aspects that don't feel fully organic.
The title Melville Boys are two blue-collar brothers in their 30s who work for a plastics factory (since they're Green Bay Packer fans, you can place them in either northern Wisconsin or Michigan).
Lee (Bryan Burke) is the eldest and responsibly married with two daughters, while Owen (Adam Sweders) behaves like he's stuck in his adolescence.
We see this contrast from the start as Owen bounds through his Aunt Rose's lake cabin, pointing his rifle around like he's a western outlaw on the run. Meanwhile, Lee is left to schlep in all the groceries and fishing rods by himself.
Lee wants to use this weekend fishing trip with Owen to talk seriously about the future. Not only is Owen to be married in three-weeks time, but Lee is coping with an unsettling diagnosis from his doctor.
But Owen sabotages the plans when he invites two sisters into the cabin. Here Foster's plotting shows its formulaic side since the sisters' relationship dynamic neatly mirrors that of the Melville brothers.
Loretta (Simone Roos) is the redheaded irresponsible younger sister in her late 20s. Even though she has had to move back with her family, Loretta is full of herself for appearing in local TV commercials for a used-car dealer.
Lorretta derisively calls elder sister Mary (Emily Bach) "the original nice girl," which she certainly lives up to. Yet Mary is also nursing pain from being abandoned by her husband three years ago.
When Owen and Loretta brashly pair up, Lee and Mary are left awkwardly together. As Mary and Lee chat, there's an undercurrent of sexual tension that is skillfully played up in Bach and Burke's performances-particularly when Mary and Lee both come up with justifiable reasons to ignore their wedding vows.
It's when the sisters leave the next morning that the play abruptly veers to the serious side. The effect is like changing a channel in the middle of a sitcom to a serious drama.
Foster's joke-filled writing leading up to the brothers' shouted confrontation of angry recriminations doesn't feel justified. So when Foster ratchets up the drama by reintroducing the rifle from the opening scene, it's just too much.
Even if "The Melville Boys" script feels like it has a split-personality, director Kurt Naebig still has a good knack for getting you involved with the characters and their dilemmas. Sure, some of Naebig's comic timing could be polished, but he helps the acting company to come off very well.
Burke impresses the most as Lee, believably navigating his character's fear and self doubt. Burke is also a great comic foil, which masks Lee's simmering anger at his unfair situation in life.
Bach's Mary is very smiley, no doubt to hide the relationship slights her character has faced. Yet Bach could allow more pained emotion to peek through in her performance to show what's hiding beneath Mary's surface cheeriness.
Roos' turn as the free-spirited Loretta is loads of fun, as is Sweders' childish antics as Owen. Yet despite Roos and Sweders' best efforts, they both betray an intelligence and effort in their performances that doesn't fully convince as their selfish and immature characters.
Perhaps with more time, the acting company will get just as comfy with their roles as the detailed and homey cabin set by Michael W. Moon. If you can't make it up north for a family cabin vacation, you can live vicariously in Buffalo Theatre Ensemble's largely enjoyable take on "The Melville Boys."