ACTION
“You find out what’s expected of you,” says Shooter in Sam Shepard’s Action, early in the play, “then you act yourself out.”
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Tom McCarthy’s performance as Shooter is the centerpiece of Crazy Horse Theatre Company’s production of Shepard’s early one-act play about (hey, it’s Shepard) alienation. McCarthy is both frustrated and frustrating, beatific and horrifying, sensual and awkward. Although Shooter himself is seriously unhinged, McCarthy gives him such a sense of balance that he becomes the anchor in this emotional maelstrom.
Hostile and incendiary, Jeep is another of Shepard’s macho romantics. He struts and shouts, pouts and threatens. Of the two men, Jeep is the one who does things–breaks up chairs, gets water, cleans fish. He’s constantly fuming, constantly in pain. By contrast, when the klutzy Shooter attempts action, he fails rather miserably. When he goes outside to get water, for example, he comes back empty-handed, having forgotten his mission. After Jeep smashes a couple of chairs, Shooter insists on bringing the last chair in the house downstairs, and the whole ordeal practically undoes him.
“I have no references for this,” shouts Jeep at the end, as he realizes the hopelessness of their predicament. Unfortunately, most audiences may have too many references–these kinds of theatrics may be too familiar for Action to have much effect.
