Michael Healey's play, \The Drawer Boy,"" is the most-produced play in America this year, even though it features only three actors and is set on an isolated Canadian farm. Granted, it doesn't sound like an immediately riveting production.
But don't be fooled by the rustic setting; The Madison Repertory Theatre's production of ""The Drawer Boy,"" aside from being quite funny, teems with life, energy and intelligence as it gently reveals fundamental truths through seemingly simple characters.
The play begins in the farmhouse kitchen where Angus (Craig Spidle), one of the two farmers, stares blankly off into the audience. It's apparent that something is not right, but it is not clear just what. This underlying sense of unease underpins the entire play, even as the characters crack jokes and tell stories over it, as if trying to dilute the nagging sense of loss.
Angus works the farm with his war buddy, the straightforward and imposing Morgan (John Sterchi), and they seem to have a set routine down until a young actor named Miles (Jason Bradley) arrives unexpectedly with an unusual request. Miles wants to live on the farm, and even offers to help with the chores, in order to research new material for an upcoming play about farming that he is acting in.
Miles, with his designer jeans and city slicker naivet?? about all things pastoral, provides some charming comedic exchanges with the experienced Morgan. If it seems at first that Miles is exploiting the simple farmers for their way of life and stories, that notion is quickly-and amusingly-expelled when we witness the exasperated, university-trained actor as he is quickly humbled by the toil of working the land.
Miles becomes intrigued by Angus, who has little short-term memory and suffers from debilitating migraines from a traumatic war injury. But in a strange, almost clich??d, touch, Healey grants Angus a Rain Man-like gift with numbers. While Angus, at times, comes across as overly juvenile as a result of his disability, his character actually provides the key to the play's complexity. Craig Spidle is eerily compelling in his point-on interpretation of this tricky role.
Morgan, who acts as a sort of caretaker for Angus, soothes him by often recounting an eloquent and tragic story about the war and how ""the farmer boy"" (Morgan) and ""the drawer boy"" (Angus) met their great loves in Europe, and how Angus sustained his injury. Miles overhears Morgan telling this private story late one night, and it whets his curiosity as he takes and incorporates these private moments into his play.
As Miles probes deeper into Angus' past, the play raises provocative questions about the ethics of using the stories of others for artistic purposes. The play also delivers great insight into not only how we construct stories to make us feel better, but also how stories can painfully expose the truth, uncover the past and make real, concrete differences in our lives. It's through storytelling that we come to realize the full, complex dynamic of Angus and Morgan's relationship.
In ""The Drawer Boy,"" director Richard Corley exhibits an intimate understanding of the play's power and nuances as he guides his three outstanding actors through the minefield of memory. In the play, Healey argues that art, and specifically theatre, can be as concrete as milking the cows and as beautiful as human understanding.
