THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 12, 1997 TAG: 9701140446
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Theater review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, THEATER CRITIC
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 72 lines
``Minor Demons,'' the legal drama by Bruce Graham, opens with offstage voices whispering, alternately, ``How could you do this?'' and ``You did the right thing.''
Obviously we have a moral dilemma here.
At center stage is Deke Winters, a big-time city lawyer who has returned to his small town origins in hopes of escaping his alcoholic past, which includes a broken marriage and drug addiction.
His hopes of drifting into complacency are shattered when he gets a case defending a teen-age boy who is accused of sexually molesting and murdering a 15-year-old girl.
The boy is guilty, but there are legal loopholes that provide a means of getting him off. The only trouble is that the lawyer would have to (1) free a murderer he knows is guilty and (2) betray his best friend (the uneducated cop who investigated the case).
The reason ``Minor Demons'' seems so minor is that it traverses familiar, predictable territory. The plotline about the Miranda rights thing has been played often on both TV series and TV movies, not to mention in several films.
It's clear from the first that the lawyer has no choice but to do his job. Once we realize that, which is early in the game, the play has nowhere to go, except to run its familiar course.
Jim Turner turns in a finely understated performance as the lawyer. He's asked to play one of the more difficult terrains assigned any actor: inner turmoil. He does so with thoughtful introspection that clearly gets all that is possible out of the rather one-dimensional role.
Tim Kircher and Sheila Walters create a wonderful kitchen-sink quality in the working-class couple they play - yelling at the kids and getting in deeper every minute with his inability to fill the role of police chief in the small town.
Most of the other characters are merely ``types.'' The would-be tough female lawyer who feels she was left behind in the small town, and surely the most superfluous character in the play (Chelsie Linquist). The tragic father of the murdered girl (Ron Newman). The macho-obsessed father of the accused boy (Joel Haberli). The overly protective mother of the accused (Nora Firestone).
The only thing approaching a complex character is Kenny, the teen murderer, well-played by Will Cervarich. At first, he appears to be a victim - cruelly teased and ostracized by his schoolmates and forced by his father to ``fight back.''
We learn he has no regrets about the murder he committed - and perhaps no idea of right and wrong. To borrow from another play, he, perhaps, has the ``bad seed.''
There is something chilling about the fact that he simply moves to another town and is pleased with himself for, at last, getting some notoriety in life - even if it took murder to do it. Kenny is the only character worth further thought.
G.F. Rowe has directed this rather routine and nondistinctive script with an eye toward fluidity of movement. One scene flows into the next rapidly.
In a year when the court system is under scrutiny by a frustrated public that fears it no longer works, you would think ``Minor Demons'' might have a major bite. It is too dated, and too simple, though, to have much immediacy. This ``plot'' has simply been played too often. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
THEATER REVIEW
``Minor Demons,'' the legal drama by Bruce Graham
Where: Generic Theater in Norfolk
Who: Directed by G.F. Rowe, featuring Jim Turner, Tim Kircher,
Will Cervarich
When: Thursday to Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m., through
Feb. 2
How Much: $12 and $10
More Info: Call 441-2160