THEATRE'S LEITER SIDE: 83. THE CHANGING ROOM. From my (unpublished) ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE NEW YORK STAGE, 1970-1975

Thursday, May 7, 2020

83. THE CHANGING ROOM. From my (unpublished) ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE NEW YORK STAGE, 1970-1975

THE CHANGING ROOM

Company of The Changing Room

"In Lieu of Reviews"

Reviews of live theatre being impossible during these days of the pandemic, THEATRE'S LEITER SIDE is pleased to provide instead accounts of previous theatre seasons--encompassing the years 1970-1975-for theatre-hungry readers. If you'd like to know the background on how this previously unpublished series came to be and what its relationship is to my three The Encyclopedia of the New York Stage volumes (covering every New York play, musical, revue, and revival between 1920 and 1950), please check the prefaces to any of the entries beginning with the letter “A.” See the list at the end of the current entry.

THE CHANGING ROOM [Drama/British/Sports] A: David Storey; D: Michael Rudman; S: David Jenkins; C: Whitney Blausen; L: Ronald Wallace; P: Charles Bowden, Lee Reynolds, and Isobel Robbins, in the Long Wharf Production; T: Morosco Theatre; 3/6/73-8/18/73 (192)

John Braden, Tom Atkins, James Sutorius.

A wonderfully produced, “plotless” play done in an extremely naturalistic—even “documentary”—fashion, recounting the locker room (“changing room”) activities of semipro British rugby league Team. Rugby league is a swift, often violent sport, played without padding in jerseys and shorts, with 15 men on each side.

The play presents one team—all working-class men who play for the spare cash they can earn—arriving at the dreary changing room before a game, getting into their gear, and leaving for the frozen field. We next see them, bruised and bleeding (one has a broken nose), at the halftime. Finally, they appear at the game’s conclusion, having won.

Rex Robbins, Doug Stender.

The play objectively depicts their male bravado and camaraderie, and their pre-, during, and postgame behavior, but does so in authentic slice0of0life style, without seeming to overtly dramatize anything. The ensemble acts as naturally and casually as if it were unconcerned with “performing” a play, and there is a considerable amount of total nudity, presented without erotic overtones. All the actors speak in North Country accents, frequently using the expletive “bloody.”

George Ede, John Lithgow, Alan Castner.

The Changing Room was a hugely stimulating event, consistently written, deeply engrossing, and superbly played by the all-male cast. It came to New York after a successful Long Wharf Theatre mounting in New Haven, Connecticut, staged by American-born, ex-pat director Michael Rudman. The critics were vastly impressed by the realistic evocation of the personalities, reactions, and feelings of the individual team members, the owners, and other secondary characters, a feat Storey managed without recourse to obviously artificial methods of depiction. The effect seemed like life in the raw, a cross-section of humanity observed unflinchingly at its normal tasks, suffering and celebrating the anguish and joy of being alive.

John Braden, John Lithgow, Rex Robbins, James Sutorius.

The drama proved “a vital stage animal, theatrical, emotional and meaningful,” to Martin Gottfried. “There isn’t a better drama in town.” It was given “as fine a display of ensemble acting as has been seen—in or out of New York—in recent years,” wrote Edwin Wilson. “If Broadway rejects it,” commented Jack Kroll, “Broadway is a Transylvanian heath infested by undead vampires and autograph hounds howling at a starless sky.”

Even the less panegyrical reviews held convincing arguments for attending. John Simon’s major quarrel was the drama’s lack of action. “Nothing really changes no conflict leads to a development, no transformation brings about illumination.”

Robert Murch, William Swetland.

The critics had difficulty in singling out performances from the balanced company but the name that reappears most frequently is that of John Lithgow, who portrayed the pathetic player who gets his nose smashed and who clings to his most prized possession, a tool kit, as he is being cared for.

The Changing Room walked off with the Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play, and a Tony nomination for Best Play. Tom Atkins was given a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance, while Lithgow got one as well, in addition to the Tony as Best Featured Actor in a Play. Rudman got a Tony nomination for Best Director of a Play, while David Jenkins received one for Best Set Design and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Scenic Design.

Previous entries:

Abelard and Heloise

Absurd Person Singular

AC/DC

“Acrobats” and “Line”

The Advertisement/

All My Sons

All Over

All Over Town

All the Girls Came Out to Play

Alpha Beta

L’Amante Anglais

Ambassador

American Gothics

Amphitryon

And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little

And They Put Handcuffs on the Flowers

And Whose Little Boy Are You?

Anna K.

Anne of Green Gables

Antigone

Antiques

Any Resemblance to Persons Living or Dead

Applause

Ari

As You Like It

Augusta

The Au Pair Man

Baba Goya [Nourish the Beast]

The Ballad of Johnny Pot

Barbary Shore

The Bar that Never Closes

The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel

The Beauty Part

The Beggar’s Opera

Behold! Cometh the Vanderkellens

Be Kind to People Week

Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill

Bette Midler’s Clams on a Half-Shell Revue

Black Girl

Black Light Theatre of Prague

Black Picture Show

Black Sunlight

The Black Terror

Black Visions

Les Blancs

Blasts and Bravos: An Evening with H,L. Mencken

Blood

Bluebeard

Blue Boys

Bob and Ray—The Two and Only

Boesman and Lena

The Boy Who Came to Leave

Bread

A Breeze from the Gulf

Brief Lives

Brother Gorski

Brothers

Bullshot Crummond

Bunraku

The Burnt Flower Bed

Butley

Button, Button

Buy Bonds, Buster

The Cage

Camille

Candide (1)

Candide (2)

The Candyapple

Captain Brassbound’s Conversion

The Caretaker

La Carpa de los Raquichis

The Carpenters

The Castro Complex

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof