Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 26, 1991 TAG: 9102260146
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ROBERT RIVENBARK SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
The play deals with an encounter between Danny and Roberta, alienated people who grow up in the urban inferno of the Bronx.
Driven by loneliness and despair, they visit a bar to drown their sorrows. After some spirited insult-trading, they go to Roberta's room for a night of lovemaking, violence and reconciliation.
The subtitle of the play is "An Apache Dance," defined as a violent dance for two people, as used by Parisian gangsters called Apaches. The "dance" between Danny and Roberta compresses a relationship into one evening, according to director Robert Cloyes.
"The play is realistic to the extent that you do find out the characters' histories, what they do for a living, that sort of thing," Cloyes said. "But the action is very compressed. I wouldn't expect all this to happen in one night in reality."
Danny is a violent young man who has lost touch with his humanity. The men who work with him loading trucks call him "The Beast" because he fights with anyone who looks at him the wrong way.
When Danny and Roberta meet, Danny thinks he may have killed someone in a fight the previous night. He thinks he is a beast and plans to commit suicide on his 30th birthday.
Roberta is nursing her own wounds. She is punishing herself for an incestuous act with her father that she committed to subdue his violence toward her family.
She has quit her secretarial job and spends most of her time in her room, leaving her teen-age son for her parents to raise. She goes out only when loneliness drives her to pick up a man. She has only one-night stands, because she believes she is spiritually deformed and doesn't deserve a real relationship.
Danny and Roberta find that their mutual attraction could lead to love if they can find the courage to open up. Their struggle toward intimacy constitutes the emotional drive of the play.
In one scene, Roberta recounts a terrifying dream about being alone in a vast ocean. Then friendly whales show up in the dream, and she sees she isn't alone after all.
A boat horn sounds outside Roberta's window later in the play. Danny is shocked to find that he and Roberta are so close to the ocean. It helps him realize that there are other worlds beyond the one he has confined himself to.
"I think Shanley wanted to say that there is the possibility of a normal life for these two people, even in the brutal culture of the Bronx," Cloyes said. "But he stresses that hardships lie ahead; hence, no happy ending."
"Danny and the Deep Blue Sea" features Scott Baker as Danny and Stephanie Turner as Roberta. Cloyes designed the set, Brian Kelley the lighting and Michelle Anthony the costumes.
Free performances will be held Wednesday-Saturday at 8 p.m. in Porterfield's studio theater on the RU campus. Call 831-5289 for more information.
by CNB