The Time Of Your Life
William Saroyan was a native Californian (born in Fresno, 1908) whose most famous play, The Time of Your Life, opened on Broadway on Oct. 25, 1939. The play won Saroyan the 1940 New York Drama Critics Circle Award and the 1940 Pulitzer Prize for drama. The Pacific Resident Theatre in Venice is bringing the play back to life in memory of Gar Campbell and also dedicated to the memories of other fallen friends of PRT.
The story takes place in 1939 in a rather seedy bar on San Francisco’s waterfront. It mainly focuses on Joe (Robb Derringer), a wealthy young man who spends everyday sitting and drinking champagne in the bar run by Nick (Christopher Shaw) who special orders champagne just for Joe. Who else coming into his bar could afford it? Joe, obviously, doesn’t have to work but we are never quite sure where his wealth comes from. Meanwhile, the characters that fluctuate in and out of the bar keep the play interesting and moving. First, there is Tom (Matt McTighe), a naïve young man who idolizes Joe, even as Joe takes advantage of him, sending him out on wild and crazy errands. But then, what else does Tom have to do? Then there is a prostitute, Kitty Duval (Shiva Rose) with whom Tom falls in love. Wesley (Michael Redfield) is a vagrant looking for a job. When Nick tells him he has nothing for him to do,
Wesley sits down at the piano, proves his prowess with the instrument, and Nick ends up hiring him to play for the bar. When a not-at-all funny “comedian” Harry (Nick Rogers) asks for a job and is turned down, he ends up performing some unconventional-style dancing to the accompaniment of Wesley, and of course, Nick gives in and hires him as well. The variety of drifters in and out of the bar are all characters indeed, all of whom Joe and Nick try to befriend and help in their own ways. Throughout the play, it seems incongruous that Joe, with all of his money, would spend his days at Nick’s. But this is where he feels at home and these are the people he feels at home with.
Filling out the cast of characters in the production is J. Steven Markus, Norman Scott, Will Rothhaar, Dennis Madden, Andrew Ebert, Cheryol Dooley, William Lithgow, Rebecca Crandall, Dan Kozlowski, Vince Melocchi, Lee De Broux, and Sarah Zinser. Alternating the role of Nick’s daughter is Corrie Craig, Valentina Matosian and Colette Blu McDermott. This superb cast brings all of these characters alive. The entire production, directed by Matt McKenzie is first-rate. Recommended.
Pacific Resident Theatre
703 Venice Blvd.
Venice, CA
Continues through Sun., Jun 1, 2008