A Time to Go Walking
A Time to Go Walking
Written by Peter McGarry
Directed by Winnie Wenglewick
With Marylyn McGinnis & David A. McElroy
Dangerous Theatre, Sanford, FL</strong>
Tonight’s forecast projects a light and variable brogue with a chance of light tear drops later in the evening. Richard “Dickey” McDickie (McElroy) prefers reading Longfellow to digging long rows of potatoes, and taking long walks in the woods instead of chopping them to firewood. His long suffering wife (McGinnis) makes tea and soldiers on but when Richard strips down and paints himself blue, she senses something is wrong. He claims its “Time to go walking”, a sort of pre-planned suicide the early Celts may or may not have used to thin the herd. She tells him to either go out the door into the November wind or sit down for a cup of tea. He opts for tea, and we explore their loving yet strained marriage. He’s good at failure, he’s failed so many times she’s tired of it. There was rabbit ranching, motorizing a bicycle, and making death masks; none of which yielded a farthing. Sex is always an undercurrent; he can’t any more, but she thinks he’s seeing the widow down the road. It’s a classic conundrum, and one only solvable by death and a dreamy after life.
The show works as well as it does for no other reason than the couple performing has been together forever, and they both come from that background of pre-Roman English dreamtime. Mr. McElroy is tall and energetic; just not in character. Ms. McGinnis is not a woman to cross, and the bare studio floor she trods emphasizes their lack of material goods. McGerry’s script remains powerful, it’s a sad yet cynical look at what growing old together offers in support: They may be sinking into cold mother earth, but they are sinking together, heads held high and level.
Set in rural Ireland and presented at the newly opened Dangerous Theater, its grand yet low keyed beginning that everyone can enjoy. The space is way up in Sanford and occupies a space that once held another community-style theater company. The space is much more refined, the seats have a slice more knee room, and if you were a fan of Frank Hilgenberg, you can once again sit in his well-worn theater seats. This was a “soft” open there’s still some paint and powder that’s not in place. Things are shifting rapidly, but Sanford still offers abundant and convenient free parking, decent restaurants and bars, and safe strolling before and after the performance. And now, some seriously good scripts on stage.
For more information on Dangerous Theater, please visit http://www.dangeroustheatre.com/ or https://dangerous-theatre-sanford.ticketleap.com/