PICK: GLEN BAKER finds it difficult to sympathise with the selfish Reuben in the funny but directionless Patience
Glen Baker, Morning Star, 13 January 2005

Tales of middle class, middle-aged suburban angst are very common in US literature.

Often, they are observant, well detailed and have a wry, bitter-sweet humour.

It can be a difficult time of life when all the chickens come home to roost simultaneously and an individual, resolute for years, can suddenly lose his direction. This is the case with this play, which is, at times, uproariously funny. Ultimately, however, one is left asking what it is all about.

With all its strengths and some sterling performances, it is a play about self absorption.

The play is set in Canada and the US among the well-off. There are three types, the get-up-and-go achievers, the disillusioned and those having a severe rethink about their lives.

Two main messages are put forward. One is of chaos theory, whereby small events such as a butterfly fluttering its wings can have effects many miles away among those unaware of the original cause.

Here, it appears to indicate that we are not in control of our own destinies.

Second, it is argued, more profitably, that people accumulate possessions for no discernible purpose. They have more than they need.

It is a small theatre and this play requires constant changes of location. The scenery continually undergoes minor adjustments. This lends an air of frenetic activity to a play which, parodoxically, is largely about lassitude and contemplation. Reuben (Geoffrey Towers) is the main character. On stage for the whole play, the part clearly requires considerable stamina.

The play opens with him playing squash, then contemplating further work projects. He is deceiving his wife, neglecting his home life and behaving as if the world is his oyster. All that changes within a day. He loses his job and she kicks him out of the family home. Rudderless, Reuben spends the rest of the play trying to find his bearings again.

He goes to visit his brother Phil (Chris Andrew Mellon) in Florida. This sibling is of little assistance as he is having a mid-life crisis of his own. He has left his wife for a much younger woman, Liz (Nicola Herring), but is having second thoughts. She is artistically inclined and so of a different temperament to him. He is following a fitness regime to regain his youth.

Reuben contacts Sarah (Sandy Walsh) to try to revive a past relationship. He also dallies with Liz.

It is a sad tale as he wrestles with the lack of a relationship, the loss of his children and the mindnumbing boredom of inactivity. Largely, however, he is to blame for his predicament and it is difficult to sympathise. He is not a victim of government policy, cyclical unemployment or anything similar. It is a purely individualistic tale. Jewish in origin, Reuben meets a rabbi (Russell Bentley) while on a nocturnal stroll. The rabbi tempts Reuben back to the synagogue. This scene is worth the price of admission alone. On the telephone to God, imitating Fagin from the musical Oliver and indulging in the uniquely caustic brand of New York Jewish humour, Russell Bentley delivers a real tour-de-force.

It is a play in which one feels that many of the characters need a good kick. They are well-heeled and navel-gazing.

Despite the content, the performances are effective and, in addition to the rabbi, the play contains some waspish humour.

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