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‘Of Mice and Men’ at Roswell’s GET
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW: “Of Mice and Men.” Through March 13.
Lennie, the sweet, simple-minded giant at the heart of Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men,” has a soft spot for furry creatures. He carries mice in his pocket, dreams of raising rabbits by the hutch-full and gets so excited about a new puppy that he inadvertently squishes it to death.
Flirtatious women with baby-doll looks can also be problematic.
Early in Steinbeck’s stage adaptation of his 1937 novella, Lennie’s companion George hints of such dangers to come when he tells his friend to hide in a stand of bulrushes should he ever get in trouble.
Steinbeck’s Depression-era story may be laden with biblical portents and outsize drama. But as a meditation on the social inequities that define race, class and what we now call “learning disabilities,” it packs a tragic wallop.
In her fluid and finely detailed Georgia Ensemble Theatre production, director Shannon Eubanks spins Steinbeck’s simple narrative into a kind of sprawling Western that captures the dark, pent-up passions of the heart. Though the play moves a bit slowly at times and a couple of so-so performances underscore the material’s maudlin streak, Mark Kincaid turns the difficult character of Lennie into an acting tour de force.
If you didn’t read “Mice” in junior high, all you need to know is that George (Steve Coulter) and Lennie are hobo travelers who stick together through thick and thin. They fantasize about getting a little place together so they can “live off the fat o’ the land.”
At the California ranch where they seek shelter and work as barley bundlers, they encounter a group of unsympathetic ruffians —- including sulky Curley (Brian Crawford) and African-American outcast Crooks (Neal A. Ghant) —- as well as like-minded dreamer Candy (Michael Cole) and the sage and salty Slim (David Crowe).
These are sad men all.
But Curley’s wife (Kathleen Link) is the loneliest soul in the bunch, and it’s her neediness that eventually dooms the innocent Lennie.
Though Coulter’s George is a sturdy amalgamation of kindness and exasperation, the unfortunate truth is that this gifted actor isn’t doing much that we haven’t seen before. (This performance seems to repeat the work he did in “Ah, Wilderness!” at Theater Emory.) Wearing his sexual insecurities on his sleeve, Crawford’s Curley is appropriately snarly; Ghant encapsulates Crooks’ journey from anger to sympathy; and Crowe’s Slim is so perfect you can’t help but wonder if he might not make a better George than Coulter.
While Cole’s account of one-handed Candy can be mawkish, the hardworking ensemble steers the ship mostly in the right direction, and set designer David Manuel turns the barren Western landscape into a bustlin’ bunkbed beehive.
In the end, though, it’s Kincaid’s vivid and virtuosic performance that makes the evening so memorable.
Lennie bumbles his speech, constantly forgets his next move, bursts into laughter at the most inopportune times and sweetly tries to assuage his friend’s impatience. (Forget the ketchup, George!). At the end of the day, “Of Mice and Men” is a peculiar kind of love story, and George’s sacrifice of Lennie is an act of terror and tenderness.
Are you ready to be heartbroken?
THE VERDICT: From mouse to tears.
THE 411: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday; 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Through March 13. $16-$33. Georgia Ensemble Theatre, Roswell Cultural Arts Center, 950 Forrest St., Roswell. 770-594-6232, www.roswellgov.com.
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