Humpty Dumpty

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Theater is one of the few art forms that has a past due date: plays relevant to their own time may become very out of date years later. Just try reading the hits of the 1930’s and you’ll see this pretty quickly. Topical items are less so years later, mores change, and pop culture references and famous names become passé. Burning issues become entirely irrelevant as they are settled or the debate on them ends.

Eric Bogosian’s Humpty Dumpty was first written 25 years ago and premiered at the McCarter Theatre Center, Princeton, in 2002. At that time the idea of quarantining due to a local or national disaster seemed a fantasy. However, since then, we have all lived through the Covid Pandemic and what was inconceivable became our daily existence. Not only does Bogosian’s play seem tame now, it also seems predictable and dated. Director Ella Jane New does not help the script much by allowing the vapid characters to all seem one dimensional. Possibly with a satiric approach or powerhouse performances, the play might have something new to say to us as its entitled people show their true colors.

Max, a novelist, and his editor wife Nicole have left New York City for a restful fall week in a mountain retreat, a rented home on a 35-acre piece of property upstate miles from a town or shopping, with complimentary ski-lift ticket though it is too early for snow. They are joined by his best friend Troy, a successful Hollywood screenwriter, and his actress wife Spoon (short for Spoonful, given her by her hippie parents.) Soon after they arrive they are hit with a power failure which soon spreads to the entire region. At first they are only concerned about their flip phones and palm pilots to which they are tied as by an umbilical cord. Then the women realize all the food that has been left for them by Ned, the owner’s local handyman, will spoil. They can’t get any news as without electricity the radio doesn’t work. As time passes, they find the local stores are out of items, there are no newspapers, and there are roadblocks into town. They seem like selfish spoiled children rather than city people on a rustic camping trip.

In the second act, they begin to worry about their safety and the cold (though they have fireplaces in several rooms.) They get tired of eating fresh eggs which Ned keeps bringing from a local farm. Eventually they all break down: one leaves, one goes out wandering, one takes to her bed, and one begins working again and wants solitude. Max becomes jealous of Nicole’s interest in Ned who, of course, is more adaptable to the situation as he grew up in this area and is used to blackouts. By the end, we find out that the situation is all over the Northeast, not just their mountain region. Weeks go by before the horrific and tragic ending. Some of the events may remind viewers of James Dickey’s Deliverance though there the characters were camping in the woods without shelter or local help.

Aside from the fact that all this is predictable, director New has not ratcheted up the tension or the urgency which is definitely a problem in such a play. Each scene follows the other in the same manner just piling up events as they occur. While David Henderson’s well-stocked cabin is fine, Michael Abrams’ lighting is unconvincing for being lit by candlelight and a fireplace through most of its length, though one assumes that the unseen windows would have brought in some light during the daytime scenes. In Rafaella Rossi’s costume design, some characters end up wearing blankets while others do not seem to be affected by the cold.

Under New’s direction, the characters are empty and entitled people who learn little or nothing from their experiences. Part of the problem is Bogosian’s writing which tells us little about the characters: Max’s lawyers are working on a movie deal for his latest novel, long overdue, Troy has written a novel that he hopes Nicole will option. Spoon seems to have a new age sensibility and adapts  best of the four to the feeling of a return to nature, while Nicole just seems to get both hysterical and then uncommunicative away from her phone and her stressful life.

The acting is all one dimensional but then that is how the play is written: Kirk Gostkowski’s Max is depressed particularly as he thinks he is losing his wife, Christina Elise Perry’s Nicole is both complaining and manic-depressive as the reality of their situation sinks in, Gabriel Rysdahl’s Troy is hyper and entitled away from his high-powered, privileged LA life, and Marie Dinolan’s Spoon is spacy and somewhat out of touch with reality. While Brandon Hughes’ Nat is both taciturn and the most down-to-earth character, the playwright has not given him a lot to say though he is intended to be played by a much older actor according to the published script.

While Eric Bogosian’s Humpty Dumpty is an interesting cautionary tale, it is about five years too late due to circumstance that have overtaken it. The lack of tension in the proceedings makes the play seem more tame than necessary. Little is done with the metaphor of the title (according to an author’s note something initially functional and fragile but that can break) though one of the characters smashes several eggs intentionally in a fit of pique. By then we fully agree with her.

Humpty Dumpty (through May 3, 2025)

Chain Theatre Main Stage, 312 W. 36^th Street, Third Floor, in Manhattan

For tickets, visit http://www.chaintheatre.org

Running time: two hours and 15 minutes including one intermission