OCC revives Jean Kerr’s work ‘Poor Richard’

Tom Titus

Somewhere back in the mid-1960s, between the inconsequential comedy

of “Mary, Mary” and the folksy novel “Please Don’t Eat the Daisies,”

playwright Jean Kerr tested the waters, if ever so slightly, of

serious theater. The result was the quasi-drama “Poor Richard.”

Absent from the local theater scene for more than three decades,

“Poor Richard” has returned as a project of the Orange Coast College

Repertory Theater under the direction of student Michael Cavinder,

who retains the play’s firm roots in the ‘60s in an enjoyable, if

somewhat uneven production.

The “Richard” of the title is a thinly disguised approximation of

Dylan Thomas, a poet from an unnamed part of the British Isles

revered for his lyrical tribute to his late wife, but a man who now

compounds writer’s block with a drinking problem. On top of that is

an overriding feeling of guilt that he married his wife for capital

gain rather than love.

Transplanted to New York’s Greenwich Village by his American agent

-- who inexplicably assigns the secretary he himself has a crush on

to assist this rakish charmer, whom she’s admired since her girlhood

-- Richard revels in the art of disconnection. The stage is set for

some romantic fireworks, but Kerr was too polite to lead her

characters too far afield.

Probably the play’s biggest flaw is establishing the poet as a

raging drunk -- and then not allowing him an actor’s dream scene to

display this weakness. Nevertheless, Ben Draper excels in the title

role with an ironic wit and a credible accent, which serve him well

as he attempts to establish his complicated character.

As the adoring secretary, Katie McGuire falls unusually flat early

on, only to catch fire in the third act (yes, this is an old

three-act play) when she wrestles with her feelings, and Richard’s --

and takes to the bottle herself. By stoking her inner fires sooner

rather than attempting verbal swordplay, at which both she and her

character are overmatched, McGuire could amplify her overall effect.

Angel Correa plays the agent as a hyperactive worry wart, which

spurs the pace of his scenes. His best moments come near the play’s

end, when he implores the poet to release his hold on the woman he

loves. His interpretive skills flesh out the social loser underneath

the high-powered manager.

A Time magazine journalist assigned to do a story on the

celebrated wordsmith is nicely played by David Reider. The show’s

predominant display of pyrotechnics, however, comes in a brief but

biting cameo by Jennifer Drake as the writer’s embittered

sister-in-law, incensed by Richard’s refusal to attend his late

wife’s memorial rites.

Set in OCC’s Studio Theater, where scenic effects often veer

toward the bare minimum, “Poor Richard” offers a splendidly designed

and detailed setting created by Andrea Mueller. Andrew

Vonderschmitt’s well-chosen lighting effects enhance the show’s

physical charm.

“Poor Richard” is not one of the plays for which the recently

deceased Jean Kerr will ultimately be remembered. Yet the OCC

production has its moments of clarity -- primarily from Draper and

Drake -- which succeed in touching the senses.

* TOM TITUS’ columns run Thursdays and Saturdays.