The Guys is a short one-act play of a writer/editor helping a fire chief create the eulogies he will read at the funerals of his fallen men. Two actors, one set, six fallen firemen, six eulogies to be written... fifty bored audience members.

Partial blame lies with the script. There was very little character development and far too many esoteric idioms in the writer's monologues to the audience. At one point, she compared the concentric rings from a pebble dropped in water with the levels of personal involvement in the attacks. But believe me, I just described it more succinctly in that one sentence than the playwrite did in a two-minute monologue. Then other sections were just plain awkward-sounding. I have to guess that the occasional odd sentence structures had been written specifically for the original cast, who I can only assume were able to deliver them with some sort of natural rhythm.

Not all the blame lies with the script, however. The more awkward spots could have been smoothed out, either with better direction or with actors who were more comfortable in their roles.

In spite of the script's faults, this could have been a heart-wrenching performance. It wasn't.

"Uncomfortable" and "stiff" are the two best words I can think of to describe the evening. "Unbelievable" is also a good one. Not for a moment did I ever believe that these two people had just been through a tragedy. ANN HEYWOOD as Joan was well-nigh emotionless and seemed utterly focused on getting the job done, i.e. to get responses to her questions in order to write the eulogies. There was very little empathy as she questioned this man about his friends who died violently about a week ago.

The one emotion Heywood did manage to capture was the frustration and uselessness most of New York felt after the attacks. When the island was cut off to all in- and outbound traffic, hundreds were forced to walk across the bridges to homes in the Burroughs. They looked down the river to see the smoke that was all that was left of the Towers. Helplessness, sorrow, fear, awe... all of these at the same time. The frustration came later when they realized that, as someone unskilled in the necessary trades, there was really nothing they could do to help. This frustration came through in Heywood's performance, even if the other emotions did not.

From beginning to end, CLIFFORD HOFFMAN as Nick seemed more nervous about the public speaking he was going to have to do at the funerals than upset at the loss of his comrades and friends. A short emotional breakdown approached farcical levels. His performance was simply unbelievable. 

When I first entered the theatre, I loved the set - a lovely home office space done in leather and wood. As the show progressed however, I desparately wanted to take the actors out of the stiff-backed chairs and let them cozy up on a comfy counch or cushy chair - simply to try to get them to relax a little. Confiding the deepest wounds in your heart while sitting stiffly upright in an uncomfortable chair just didn't work for me.

Obviously, I did not like this production. As a former New Yorker, I felt cheated and just a bit insulted.

A show commemorating that terrible day should be more.

The Guys will run until November 5, 2006 at the Generic Theatre in Norfolk.