Drama launches season with Rocket

by Bob Blakey

The costumes might give it away as 1938, but the themes and human behaviours in Rocket to the Moon are thoroughly contemporary, says the play’s director.

“ It’s a very human play,” Joe-Norman Shaw says during a break in rehearsals for Rocket to the Moon – the U of C drama department’s first show in its Mainstage Series.

“ It’s about people struggling with desire and yearning. It’s about infidelity as much as it is about love and trying to find a way to live that’s fulfilling and meaningful.”

Clifford Odets’ provocative, complex play is built around dentist Ben Stark, who is facing a mid-life crisis. Depressed about his lot in life and a 10-year marriage that’s flagging, Ben is suddenly energized when the beautiful Cleo Singer walks into his office to take a job as his receptionist.

This young, vibrant woman is sexual catnip for Ben – and a challenge to his still-beautiful, strong-willed wife. The tale is a classic love triangle amid the unbearable heat of a hot, steamy New York summer and features some entertaining, often funny characters.

Odets (1906-1963) wrote the play near the end of the Great Depression in a cultural scene that would spawn significant changes in theatrical and movie acting, led by the Group Theatre, of which Odets was a member. Their movement was known as American poetic naturalism.

“ I’m really fascinated by this time period and I love this play,” Shaw says. “I could have easily done Golden Boy or one of the others (by Odets). But there’s something about this play that speaks to a contemporary audience particularly.

“ We’re looking at a play that was written about a guy in mid-life crisis and I don’t think we even heard that terminology until maybe the last 20 years or so.

“ Odets was ahead of his time in looking at human psychology and bringing that into the dramatic arena.”

Rocket to the Moon runs Oct. 21 through Nov. 1 at the University Theatre. For tickets call, 220-7202.