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Below the Belt - ACT Theatre
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Richard Dresser’s satire on the anonymity of the corporate culture centres on three men who are ‘checkers.’ Literally, their job is to check things made by others, and this mundane task rises to the level of a trade, craft and a profession in their minds. Dobbitt, played by R Hamilton Wright, is a naïve raw recruit who arrives at the company compound with good intentions. He encounters firstly the cynical embittered Hanrahan (Judd Hirsch), his senior colleague. Hanrahan doesn’t like people, goes out of his way to be difficult to get along with and makes a point of misconstruing negatively anything said to him. His dialogue with the eager to please Dobbit therefore lends itself to many comedic opportunities which two fine actors, Judd Hirsch and R Hamilton Wright, utilize superbly.
It would be easy as a reviewer to lavish attention and praise on the famous Hirsch, but to do that would be to ignore that Wright, despite his directing efforts, is still a very very entertaining stage actor, and that Judd Hirsch was exceptionally good in their scenes at allowing Wright’s weaker character of Dobbitt a chance to act without having the insufferable Hanrahan overpowering him.
Into the mix comes their boss Merkin, played by John Procaccino. Merkin is a more confusing and nuanced character than Dobbit and Hanrahan, and at first seems to revel in just being somebody’s boss. But deep down he wants to be loved and admired, and Procaccino allows us to discover this side of Merkin at a gradual pace which avoids sudden twists and turns.
The dialogue is sharp and the acting superb. If I had to nitpick, it would be that the plot twist arrives very late for a stage play, and then gets resolved very quickly. Luckily, the sharpness of the scripts and the excellence of the acting overcomes this, and you have to accept that for this comedy, the plot is just the means to an end.
That an actor of the reknown of Hirsch plays the ACT Theatre is a tribute to the excellence of this venue, the reputation of Director Pam MacKinnon and of course to Hirsch’s own decision to support local theatre and bring his craft to the locality.
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