Dickhead

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Dickhead, written by Gil Kofman and directed by Richard Caliban, is a story about the patriarch of a dysfunctional family in the midst of a near-total disintegration. The action is centered on Richard (Ezra Barnes), an abrasive, abusive lawyer who is rightly called “a dick” by his wife and just about everyone who interacts with him. He is also called Dick, as a nickname for Richard. The only time he is called “Dickhead” is midway through the action, in a maybe friendly comment by his oldest friend Howard who is given a solid portrayal by Chuck Montgomery.

In the opening scene, Richard is in the office of his therapist Dr. Adams (Frank Licato) on a cell phone call with a tech support person at the internet company. This action provides a portrait of Richard’s personality: nasty, abrasive, ego-centric; a real dick. It also indicates that things are not going well in Richard’s home life and job. Barnes’ performance is well-tuned to the character, although, at times, getting close to being too much of a dick. Licato effectively embodies the therapist who is not as balanced as he appears to be in the opening. Licato gives a good performance of another character late in the play, the doctor’s wife.

Another factor is playing a role in Richard’s behavior; he has forgotten his bitcoin password. This is a big deal since millions of dollars in bitcoins are at stake. The way this mass of value came to Richard is a story that introduces Howard. Howard is, as Ruth (Jodie Markell), Richard’s long-suffering wife, says, “He’s your oldest friend.” Richard corrects her when he says, “Oldest, but not best,” revealing an important detail in the story.

Markell fully embodies Ruth as a calm, warm-hearted person who seems disconnected from the events affecting her family. She also harbors a fantasy with a lottery ticket that, maybe, could be, is almost certainly a winner.

The other members of this dysfunctional world are Richard and Ruth’s son Bobby (Glen Feinstein), his wife Darcy (Kai An Chee), and their son Junior (Wyatt Fenner). They are living with Richard and Ruth because Bobby’s house needs black mold removed, a long, painstaking job. This living arrangement adds another layer of stress to Richard’s life.

Bobby is a struggling playwright delusional about selling a script for a movie starring Brad Pitt. Darcy is a former schoolteacher and a sensation on an exhibitionist site called OnlyFans. Their son adds a measure of weirdness to the equation by being a pre-teen obsessed with a virtual reality headset and the world it reveals, enabling him to escape from the reality of his family and school.

Each of these characters and their issues influence and are influenced by Richard’s “dickhead” personality and his overwhelming struggle to remember the password to his Bitcoin account. When Bobby and Darcy discover there is a stalker associated with Darcy’s OnlyFans performances, it is an attempt to add some mystery and foreboding to the play, but it doesn’t really work, especially when the stalker is revealed towards the end of the play.

Kofman uses the forgotten Bitcoin password to enhance the side stories of the various characters. The memory regression attempt by Dr. Adams reveals things about him that play into later scenes that ultimately don’t matter to the overall story but unnecessarily add more evidence to the reality of Richard’s “dickhead” character. In a scene in a conference room, Howard’s actions reveal dark aspects of his character while Richard is on the phone with a colleague. What is revealed is important later in the show, as are details from a dinner conversation between Richard and Howard. All the various storylines intersect at the end with an implausible and unsatisfying close.

While the performances are mostly solid, even Fenner’s turn as a 13-year-old, some elements in the production don’t work. The lack of incidental props, such as cell phones, cigarettes, drinking glasses, and other objects, is off-putting. In the opening scene, Richard talks into his hand as if holding a cell phone, an action repeated by him and other characters. There is a restaurant scene where wine is enjoyed, but no bottles or glasses are used.

There are concerns with the background music. While it works well during the scene changes, it is intrusive during some scenes, such as the opening scene with the psychologist. The physical sets are minimal, with tables, chairs, stools, and one chaise. The scenes rely on background projections to fill out the set.

Scene changes use projections to provide a sense of what is being staged. These projections are effective in transitioning from one scene to the next, but there is a distracting element within the overall projection: a picture of a city in profile. It would be more effective to make the cityscape disappear as the projection of a conference room or home living room appeared.

If the intent is for this production to be viewed as a virtual experience by Richard similar to what his grandson Junior experiences with his gaming headset, it is not apparent that this is the case.

The projection design by Tiffany Chen is primarily effective in expanding the look and feel of Joey Moro’s minimal scenic design. Still, it contains distracting elements, as noted earlier. Moro’s lighting effectively supports the action and helps establish a scene. The costume design by Sara O’Donnell defines the characters and is appropriate to the period. Grace Keith, stage manager, is the glue that holds everything together before the curtain goes up.

Dickhead (through October 13, 2024)

Theater for the New City

The Cino Theater, 155 First Avenue, in Manhattan.

For tickets, call: 212-254-1109, or visit http://www.theaterforthenewcity.net

Running time: two hours with an intermission