D.L. Coburn's The Gin Game is disturbing. Surprised? So am I.
Two senior citizens, a man and a woman, meet at The Bentley Home for
Seniors. Sound of mind and body, they boast about how they are unique
at the home, given that most of the others are bedridden or have
Alzheimer's. In fact, they are the only two residents we ever see
venture out on the balcony. Crotchety Weller Martin asks the
endearing Fonsia Dorsey to play gin rummy and they play cards while
getting to know each other. Sweet and sentimental, wouldn't you think?
This American play has been in my consciousness ever since 1977, when
real life partners Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn portrayed the
octogenarian card players on Broadway. Having more to do with the
stereotypical portrayal of senior citizens in the popular media than
with reality, I was surprised to find that The Gin Game is not all
cute and inspiring.
Though D.L. Coburn has written many plays since, The Gin Game, his
first, remains his most celebrated and popular work. And this is
because the two retirement home residents unveil the hardships, the
mistakes, and the misfortunes that the game of life can deal.
Coburn observes with perception and irony that older people do not
necessarily feel and react to pain differently than younger people.
In fact, as they play more gin,Weller and Fonsia behave more and more
in ways we would associate with children. On the surface one might
conclude that Weller is a sore loser and that losing brings out the
worst in him, but Coburn also shows the analogy between one's
performance in a game of gin and in life itself.
Winners and losers, disappointments and illusory success: with each
successive hand of gin rummy another layer of each character's
initially tough skin is removed. Fonsia and Weller become
progressively more complex and more vulnerable. They become more and
more real.
The play is also full of laughs from beginning to end, especially
when they cut the deck and play another round. It is a slice of life
replete with laughter and tears. It is also a piece which could only
work with two consummate actors; the broad range of emotions and the
requisite comic timing demand nothing less. We could not hope for
better with Viola Léger and Douglas Campbell.
Not only can each of them bring a simple monologue to full-colour
life (which Viola Léger has made a centerpiece of her career with La
Sagouine), but the match is ideal. Douglas Campbell is tall and large
while Viola Léger is almost petite and demure. Even Campbell's lower,
bellowing voice and Léger's delicate, higher register create a
contrast between them which serves the play well - both in the
lighter moments when Fonsia gingerly announces "gin", and later when
Weller uncontrollably dumps his lifelong frustrations on her.
While both of them are closely studying their cards the audience is
closely watching every gesture and hanging on every word. Their
breadth of character makes us care and feel sorry for them, laugh
with them and, surprisingly, see ourselves in them - no matter what
age we are. And perhaps the latter is what I found most disturbing of
all.
- Gaspare Borsellino
D.L. Coburn's The Gin Game plays at the Centaur Theatre, 453 St-François-Xavier, until March 26. Tickets: (514) 288-3161.
You can also hear Gaspare Borsellino on UPSTAGE - Theatre on Radio, hosted and produced by Estelle Rosen. Thursdays between 6 and 7 p.m. on CKUT 90.3 FM
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