Goodman cast skillfully navigates 'Long Red Road'

Playwright Brett C. Leonard deserves kudos for not forcing nobility on the ignoble in his play "The Long Red Road," in its world premiere at the Goodman Theatre.

In fact, Leonard is unflinching in his depiction of dedicated drunkard Sam (played with painful honesty by British actor Tom Hardy), and the damage he inflicts on those closest to him. By his own admission, Sam stands on quicksand, and he prefers to sink rather than grab a lifeline.

Bleak and unrelenting, "The Long Red Road" is not a feel-good play. And while Leonard demonstrates a certain temerity in centering his story on an irredeemable alcoholic, the play, at times, strains under its own significance, and ultimately falls short.

That's mainly because the playwright does not make a convincing case why audiences should care about Sam and the other broken souls around him. The characters - the long-suffering girlfriend, the resentful sibling, the needy child - are rooted in clichés and their motives questionable.

How is it that a brief reunion with a man she hasn't seen in nearly a decade transforms a rebellious teenager into a devoted daughter? And what motivates a bright woman to stick with a man so obviously intent on destroying himself? Leonard never really provides answers, making their reactions feel less authentic.

That's not the play's only problem. Leonard alternates between heavy-handed foreshadowing that telegraphs early an inappropriate relationship that later comes to light, and cryptic allusions (a hint at childhood abuse) which he never fully develops.

But while the play fails to fully satisfy, the performances satisfy entirely under the tightly focused, intimate direction of Academy Award-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman who uses silence to wonderful - even devastating - effect.

"The Long Red Road" refers to the path of sobriety, one that Sam (a gritty, true performance from Hardy who knows something about addiction) declines to take. Leonard wrote the play with Hardy in mind, and the role fits the actor - who in the past has acknowledged his own battles with drugs and alcohol - as snugly as the T-shirt Sam wears.

Down-and-nearly-out, Sam is drinking himself to death on the South Dakota Indian reservation where he holed up following a horrific, alcoholic-related car crash nine years earlier. Sam spends his days ranting at the locals at a bar under the watchful eye of Clifton (Marcos Akiaten), a Native American chief celebrating five years of sobriety.

Sam spends his nights on the floor (penance from a man who will never be able to atone for his sins) of the apartment he shares with his schoolteacher girlfriend and enabler Annie (played with clear-eyed compassion by Greta Honold). She inexplicably loves Sam but harbors no illusions about who he is or what he will become.

Back in Kansas, Sam's brother Bob (a coiled Chris McGarry who's terrific in a thorny role) has assumed Sam's role as husband to the embittered Sandra (Katy Sullivan) and father to Sam's rebellious and angry teenage daughter Tasha (Fiona Robert, a high school student whose performance reflects loads of potential).

They live apart, but remain bound by alcohol, anger and grief, a point artfully reflected by designer Eugene Lee, whose expansive set serves as two different locations (a device Craig Wright effectively incorporated in his play "Grace") which both couples inhabit simultaneously. Actually, it works far more elegantly and effectively than it sounds, with the characters drifting through each others' lives, without really connecting.

"The Long Red Road" Rating: #9733; #9733;Location: Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago. (312) 443-3800 or goodmantheatre.orgShowtimes: 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday; 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday through March 21Running time: About two hours, 15 minutes with intermission Tickets: $40, $45 Parking: Paid lots nearby; reduced rates with validation at the James R. Thompson Center parking garage, 100 W. Randolph St. Rating: For adultsFalse20001527The dissolute Sam (Tom Hardy) confronts his devoted girlfriend Annie (Greta Honold) in Goodman Theatre's world premiere of Brett C. Leonard's bleak drama, "The Long Red Road," directed by Academy Award-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. False