Not a pretty picture, but it makes for a good play

Tom Titus

Remember the greenhouse scene in the movie “Days of Wine and Roses”

in which Jack Lemmon tore the place apart in a drunken rage looking

for that last bottle he’d hidden there?

“Some Men Need Help,” the current production of Orange Coast

College’s OCC Repertory Company, opens on this level -- with its

alcoholic protagonist already at the bottom of the barrel. There’s

only one direction to go from that point -- up -- but it’s a long,

tortured climb on a slippery slope.

Fortunately, he doesn’t have to go it alone. A neighbor in his

suburban Connecticut tract is willing to provide the necessary

support -- for reasons playwright John Ford Noonan never quite

divulges. One must assume the good Samaritan is an AA member who’s

gone through the process himself, although this is never spelled out.

This two-character drama, under the direction of Kris Kelley,

provides some gut-wrenching moments and a superb performance by Angel

Correa as the alcoholic whose road to recovery is a painful,

uncertain process. Correa, one of OCC’s more accomplished thespians,

offers a gripping valedictory that must rank atop anything the

college’s actors have presented for some time.

In his opening scene -- hostile, trembling and possessed of a

gargantuan thirst even in the midst of a roaring hangover -- Correa

reverses the normal acting process, starting at an emotional peak and

gradually winding down to a facade of normalcy. However, just when

his character’s feet seem firmly planted on the ground again,

playwright Noonan blindsides him with a plot twist that would drive a

teetotaler to the bottle.

How the recovering alcoholic handles this cruel reversal of

fortune is the substance of Noonan’s play. And here his second

character, the interventionist portrayed by Ben Draper, plays an even

more important role than his earlier efforts to drag his neighbor

kicking and screaming into sobriety.

Draper is cool and in command, the antithesis of Correa’s

out-of-control character, and his strength makes this production an

excellent two-hander. He seemingly has all the answers, whether

dealing from a position of supportive buddy or tough-love specialist

prevailing by physical force.

Director Kelley manipulates the action with a patient, comforting

hand, never hurrying his actors when an emotional moment demands

sustained silence. David Scallion’s kitchen setting reeks of realism,

particularly in the opening scene, when one almost can smell the

stale liquor from the collection of bottles strewn about.

OCC’s Rep Company has chosen a demanding project in “Some Men Need

Help.” Fortunately, the college has two superlative actors who are

well up to its demands.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews

appear Fridays.