Lonely Planet

by Joseph Cervelli

The Keen Company is reviving the Steven Dietz play “Lonely Planet” which was first seen 25 years ago. While I never saw the original, this current production at The Clurman Theater at  Theater Row about two men during the height of the AIDS epidemic (although AIDS itself is not mentioned)  left me cold. While Dietz does aim for something meaningful the two characters never feel like friends even though they have known each other for years. Also, neither really is all that likable a character. To make matters worse, Jody (Arnie Burton) who owns a map store (comfortably designed by Antihuman Bhatia) appears to be so callous in the play’s last scene that it left me in wonderment as to the playwright's true intention. 

The flamboyant Carl (Matt McGrath) spends most scenes bringing in chairs into the store which he salvages from the apartments of friends who have succumbed to the disease. At first, Ionesco’s “The Chairs” comes to mind and in a bit of a joke the playwright actually has Jody with a copy of the play later on. Why indeed would Jody allow these chairs to clutter his store when he is such a fussy, organized individual makes little sense. Burton appears too stiff in the role although it was probably written that way. Not an easy character to warm up to even though he has just about self-exiled himself to his store,  and you are never quite sure if he even leaves it to go home.  In one of a series of monologues  he talks about  about the “Greenland Problem” which basically is that on the classic  Mercator’s map Greenland is not in accurate proportion being much smaller than it appears. He goes on to explain why it was made that way by the ancient cartographer and somehow there is an analogy here between that and people whom he knows that are dying from the disease. The reasoning seems more pedantic than anything else. He also reveals several of his dreams which in which fear plays a part. Perhaps, a metaphor for why he stays in his store fending off any sense of foreboding illness. 

Carl is more an an enigma in the sense you really don’t know what he does for a living (Jody mentions a laundry list of possible professions) and seems to live in a continual flux and delves in flights of fancy. There is talk several times about a game called “truth” they play but never delve into that.  Except for the play’s last scene or two McGrath who was so memorable in “The Legend of Georgia McBride” gives a much too overblown performance which director Jonathan Silverman could have tethered in. Jody and Carl who while friends never have any real connection thoughout the play  and when they speak of the passing of friends you never feel any real real grief. Not every show needs to pack the centrifugal force of other plays dealing with AIDS like “As Is” or “The Normal Heart” but real emotion is lost in this one which, sadly, becomes tedious.

Tickets are available at Theater Row 410 West 42nd Street or by calling 212.239.6200. The limited engagement as of this date is November 18. 

PHOTO: CAROL ROSEGG