Review: A Steady Rain at Dirt Dogs Theatre Co. news

It’s a darkish and stormy evening. Two Chicago beat cops, greatest buddies since “kinnygarten,” sit below the glare of pendant lights within the interrogation room. Denny (Kevin Daugherty) is the new head, the bully who takes no prisoners, may membership you with out warning, a particular alpha; Joey (Trevor B. Cone) is a little more delicate, one who likes process and enjoying by the guide. Each use racial slurs and good-old-boy gritty language to bond with one another. They’re companions in crime towards crime, as they take bribes, shake down hookers, and nimbly skirt across the legislation they’re sworn to guard.

On the imply streets of the Metropolis with Huge Shoulders, that is the way you get issues finished. They each lengthy to make Detective, however their on-the-job efficiency is riddled with questionable actions that fear the highest brass. Any person’s gonna snap.

In the event you’ve ever seen any of the 21 seasons of Legislation and Order and its quite a few profitable spin offs, or any crime-and-cop reveals, you understand this territory. Eat or be eaten. Play good and also you’ll lose your perp, or possibly your life. It’s a damned powerful job, and one that can eat you alive in case you let it. Playwright Keith Huff has both memorized all episodes of those crime dramas, or is aware of somebody within the enterprise, for his two-actor A Regular Rain, in a Dust Canines Theatre Co. manufacturing, possesses all of the melodrama and sensation of a blitz watching.

A household man, Denny nonetheless doesn’t have the desire energy to withstand a fling with a neighborhood prostitute, which units up Act One with subsequent lethal penalties with hints of the companions’ breakup and Denny’s psychological breakdown. He opens a big gap into which Joey can fall into the arms of Connie, Denny’s spouse.

Act Two adapts a lurid chapter from Jeffrey Dahmer’s two-decade Minnesota killing spree, when the police inadvertently returned a younger sufferer to the cannibalistic sadist. They bought snookered by a glib Dahmer who claimed the bare boy was his lover and their evening of affection bought out of hand. The truth is, the Vietnamese boy had been drugged however miraculously escaped earlier than Dahmer may do his worst. The 2 Milwaukee policemen, although suspicious of Dahmer, didn’t observe up, didn’t consider the surprised boy’s assertion or take each of them in for questioning. They blithely handed the boy again into the ready arms of the serial killer. It’s assumed that the boy was useless one hour later. And dismembered after two.

Whereas this sequence is grisly sufficient, it is only one of many infractions. The play’s attraction and energy are rather more private. Joey is a recovered alcoholic, because of the ministrations of Denny, but it surely’s Denny who’s the tragic determine. He’s torn into items. His poisonous masculinity is lethal – to his job, his household, his friendship with Joey – and he can’t appear to assist himself. He’s too proud to ask for assist. He have to be robust for all of them, which suggests he’s bought nothing left for himself. He falls into medicine and adultery with a thud. Daugherty plies this character with unabashed energy, lurching from self-loathing to demonic male pleasure to a helpless cri de coeur. It’s a whirlwind efficiency.

In his quiet method, Cone matches him punch for punch. After all of the companions’ errors, the highest echelon needs a sufferer. The lads, haunted by their deep lengthy friendship, should resolve who’s to take the blame for the boy’s loss of life. That Joey is now entwined with Denny’s household is a Judas second. Who’s he going to betray? Cone performs this with an Everyman’s compassion and a sudden rush of male safety. Joey could also be out of his depth, however his love for Connie and her younger household releases the goodness in him.

Huff’s play is an unabashed melodrama, on laborious boil on a regular basis. Beautifully directed by Malinda L. Beckham who imaginatively retains the strain ratcheted at ten, she has assembled a superlative workforce who overlay Rain with a most engaging movie noir gloss. John Baker’s lighting slashes then envelops the 2 misplaced souls; Jon Harvey’s sound design makes use of background rain as regular soundtrack below gun photographs and sirens; but it surely’s Hescher’s musical soundtrack that’s the wow issue.

A wondrous combine tape of Alex North’s jazzy movie writing, a little bit of Alfred Newman’s excessive violins for Fox, and snippets of Nelson Riddle’s lush ’50s preparations for Sinatra; it’s the most effective rating this season: atmospheric, unimaginable transferring, absolute perfection. Who’s he, and why hasn’t he been heard all over the place in Houston’s theater? I do know his title is Cory Sinclair, an digital musician, however what a revelation. Please sir, can I’ve some extra?

A Regular Rain continues by way of March 5 at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 7:30 p.m. Monday, February 28, and Thursdays; and a pair of p.m. Sundays at Dust Canines Theatre Co. at MATCH, 3400 Fundamental. Masks and temperature examine required. For extra info, name 713-521-4533 or go to dirtdogstheatre.org. $25.