. . . SOME UNFINISHED CHAOS . . .
. . . Some Unfinished Chaos . . . has a major gestalt problem. Playwright Evan Blake has created two potentially interesting characters inspired by short-story master Raymond Carver and poet Tess Gallagher, who lived together for several years before Carver died of lung cancer. In the play, Eric Wittenger is a writer living off the fame of his only novel, published 17 years earlier, and Jessamyn Tyler is an attractive young woman just out of college who worships him. When Blake looks at these characters, however, he sees only a sentimental love story played out against the backdrop of impending death. Meanwhile the characters’ behavior raises all sorts of provocative questions that apparently have no place in the playwright’s gestalt.
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But though the script is weak, this Equity Library Theatre production is surprisingly strong. Under the sound direction of Richard Grubbs, the two actors give sincere performances that almost conceal the characters’ shallowness. Tod Wheeler persuasively portrays Eric as a dour, peevish man full of anger and anxiety. With his droopy mustache and faux-British demeanor, Wheeler resembles playwright Edward Albee–an excellent model for Wittenger. Wheeler even mimics the snide, contemptuous attitude Albee projects in public, an attitude that seems designed to conceal his need for approval. Bridgett McCarthy as Jessamyn is fresh-faced, perky, exuberant, and terribly serious–just the qualities one would expect in a Nebraska innocent.
