Year of Bad Men by Patrick Coyle at Phoenix Theater

Year of Bad Men by Patrick Coyle is playing a limited run at the Phoenix Theater in Uptown. It is produced by A Life-sized Meme Production whose goal is to do new works that bring people together. This is their inaugural show and in my view, it is a great start.

I am new to the works of Patrick Coyle. Reading the program it sounds like this script is being filmed sometime this summer/fall. Watching it, I can see how it would lend itself more to the screen than to a stage. That being written, it was finely directed by Stephanie Alexander. She made it work very well on stage and included some of the smoothest scene transitions I've seen in a long time. Her cast was solid and even, though I want to give a nod to the incredible character and comic charm of Ellen Apel as Samantha Rose. While the character of Sam isn't a huge part, Apel's portrayal was funny, honest, and she had such great character moments throughout the show that she was a highlight. The other character parts were played by William Bridger Adkison, Al Fiene, and Heidi Ricks. All good actors in some good fun roles.

The story of "Year of Bad Men" is somewhat simple, yet deep and connected. I found it similar to "Six Degrees of Separation" in the sense that you have multiple characters who are all linked together somehow. If I were to write it in one sentence it would be "two women meet two men, secrets abound." Mary Sullivan (played by Stephanie Coffield) takes a sublet in a very specific apartment directly across the alley from Tommy Gallagher (Adam Harfield). That same day (or close to it), Kim Porter (Haley Hubbard) knocks on Tommy's door asking for him by a different name. It is clear that Tommy knows who this other name belongs to and he is about to move out when he meets Mary Sullivan...and decides after one kiss, that he needs to stay. Throw into this triangle Henry Shier (Adri Mehra) who helps Kim get a job, and find a place to stay as she also just came to town. Through a variety of short scenes in various locations (very cinematic), you start putting the pieces together - even though the characters you are watching have not. As an audience member you know there is something more going on and it all comes to light in Act Two.

The four leads were fantastic. They had moments - usually non-dialogue moments - that really showed who they were as a character. The play has this section in Act Two where everything becomes very film noir. The tone of the dialogue and visuals are tweaked to create this mood that is so noir and yet so fitting to the scene and the play. I found it fascinating and a really great moment. Thanks to the direction and the strong actors there were a lot of those solid, great moments throughout the show works. There were also comic moments that were totally unexpected but perfectly times and played to lighten the mood. Visually the lighting and set were minimal but there was great sound design and the space was utilized in the best way possible. The transitions between scenes were seamless. The ending... exactly what I wanted it to be.

While the show has two more performances on Saturday, I do hope that it gets remounted at some point. It is a good show with some really great performances by an very good group of actors. I think it is a start of a great new company in town and I look forward to seeing more work by Life-sized Meme Productions, and Patrick Coyle.