The blues singers like to say that if it wasn’t for bad luck, they’d have no luck at all.
Review: After losses in life, two unforgettable players put all their cards on the line in ‘Gin Game’
Greta Oglesby and Terry Hempleman hold viewers in thrall at Park Square Theatre in D.L. Coburn’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
February 10, 2025 at 9:30PM
Weller Martin and Fonsia Dorsey, two denizens of a cut-rate nursing home, might as well be singing those blues.
In “The Gin Game,” D.L. Coburn’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play that opened over the weekend at Park Square Theatre, Weller (Terry Hempleman) and Fonsia (Greta Oglesby) find themselves without any guests on visitors’ day.
Bitten by loneliness in what should be the halcyon final chapter of their lives, the two get to know each other over games of gin rummy. He is confident in his knowledge of a game that he conflates with his manhood, and gladly explains it to her.
Fonsia is understated about her skills and lets her playing do the speaking.
But what starts out as a winning situation as Fonsia sits down for cards turns into something that’s troubling. Pretty soon everyone is asking how a simple card game between two seniors leads to what looks like an abusive relationship.
On that score, “The Gin Game” has not aged well. We want to get up on Joseph Stanley’s set, with its folded-up wheelchair on the back sunporch where the action takes place, and stop Weller’s behavior. Of course, we wouldn’t have a play then.
Coburn’s two-hander is a theatrical favorite because it’s been such a star vehicle, with Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy originating the roles on Broadway and James Earl Jones and Cecily Tyson making it indelible in their 2015 revival.
Under Faye M. Price’s meticulous direction at Park Square, Hempleman and Oglesby show that they are worthy of that theatrical lineage. His Weller is by turns charming and charismatic and ornery and vinegar-filled. He carries a cane and is given to sudden outbursts, pushing and pulling Fonsia to meet his acute need for companionship.
If we ultimately feel revolted by Weller’s behavior, it’s because of the power of Hempleman’s visceral performance.
Oglesby, known for her emotional range, suffuses her work with a musical tonality. Her Fonsia is a wellspring of goodness and secrets but is surprisingly acquiescent in the face of Weller’s obstreperousness and vitriol.
Perhaps Fonsia needs companionship so much that she’s willing to put up with threats and tantrums.
In their emotions and line readings, neither Oglesby nor Hempleman ever get ahead of their characters. And it’s a testament to their skill that he makes audience members so upset and that she draws us in to comfort her.
Some Christians like to say that they love the sinner but hate the sin. Here, the saying would be love the performances but pull back from the play, a tribute to the magnetism of a production that also pushes you away.
‘The Gin Game’
When: 7 p.m. Wed.-Fri., 2 & 7 p.m. Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. Ends Feb. 23.
Where: Park Square Theatre, 20 W. 7th Place, St. Paul.
Tickets: $25-$60. 651-291-7005 or parksquaretheatre.org.
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