Special to the AmNews
“Simply charming” is the best way to describe theater veterans James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson as they co-star in “The Gin Game” at Broadway’s Golden Theatre on West 45th Street. The comedic drama, written by D.L. Coburn, introduces the audience to Weller (Jones) and Fonsia (Tyson), two people who meet and come to be each other’s only friends at a dilapidated nursing home.
The two characters get to know each other and have some very revealing conversations, all while playing gin. The playwright skillfully utilizes the dialogue to not only reveal their hidden pains and frustrations but to also comment on how the elderly feel when they are put into nursing homes by their families, and then left there. The play shares the mediocrity and sadness that the elderly endure.
In the characters of Weller and Fonsia, one sees elderly people who are ill but still have energy and want to be stimulated and get some enjoyment out of life. They are people who are haunted by the troubles of their pasts and the loneliness of their present situations.
The play talks about how the elderly are spoken to like children by the staff in their homes and made to endure church choirs, dance lessons and bad magicians coming to entertain them. Weller believes it is ridiculous that the nursing home thinks it is so important to keep the elderly entertained, sarcastically saying it seems the belief that the choir singing or the magician performing will help the elderly live one more day.
Weller has a temper and feels frustrated and forgotten. The only activity that cheers him up is playing gin, a card game he’s been playing for decades. He is used to winning, but once he meets and begins playing with Fonsia, that quickly changes and so does his demeanor.
Fonsia’s character is bitter about her life and sad to be at the nursing home, where she never gets visitors. She befriends Weller, only to be a victim of his verbal abuse when his temper gets the best of him during a gin game.
Although these two characters only speak to each other, at times they get so frustrated with each other that they say cruel, hurtful things. They are snippy, old people who still have some life in them and are still fighting the world for the respect they feel they are due. Their love-hate relationship causes one to pause and see and feel their pain. However, their attacks on each other also often cause one to crack up with laughter.
Witnessing these acting legends give flawless performances and play these characters down to the last details, including the slow, short steps that Fonsia takes on the stage, just reminds you that you are watching the greats. Jones and Tyson are impeccably directed by Leonard Foglia.
It was wonderful to see such an ethnically diverse audience. Although people’s backgrounds may have varied, the standing ovation at the end came from everyone.
For more information, visit thegingamebroadway.com.