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| Sydnee Devitt, James Staley. |
Originally staged as a workshop piece at the Actors
Studio, Felix, with a cast quite
large for an Off-Broadway play, lasted less than a week once exposed to the
critics. It was about the eponymous hero (Dick O’Neill), a man who, for 21
years, has served his trucking company like a faithful dog, believing
implicitly in its concern for the welfare of its employees. However, he is
ignominiously fired from his dispatcher’s job at age 47.
The play observes the debilitating effects of this
crushing blow on a man who suddenly is aware of the emptiness of his most
sacred ideals. Felix, watched always by a sociology doctoral student (James
Staley) studying him for his thesis, gradually sinks into the morass of despair
as his family life disingtegrates and he becomes a derelict.
Edith Oliver thought the playwright’s message “of no
interest whatever,” but she praised his characters and ability at scene
writing. Clive Barnes thought the writing uneven, liked the staging and O’Neill’s
performance, but found the material insufficiently novel. Among the dozen cast
members were Greg Antonacci, Ed Setrakian, and Sloane Shelton.