At Theatre Gigante: One Actor, One Character

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Photo: Theatre Gigante

Michael Stebbins in Theatre Gigante's 'Title and Deed'

Michael Stebbins in Theatre Gigante's 'Title and Deed'

There’s one man on the stage. He has brought a bag with him. There’s a stick protruding from the bag. He’s trying to introduce himself, but he’s not doing a terribly good job. It’s actor Michael Stebbins. He’s a very sharp and clever performer who is playing someone who is having great difficulty communicating with a roomful of strangers. The audience is allowed something like an hour with the man as Theatre Gigante presents playwright Will Eno’s one-man show, Title and Deed.

Directed by Gigante’s Isabelle Kralj, the show is remarkably captivating as it engages the very nature of theatre on a profoundly fundamental level. One man stands on a tiny, little stage addressing an audience. The language is inadequate, but the language is always inadequate. Stebbins does a breathtaking job of dancing around the edges of words, language and the nature of storytelling in a Will Eno script that plays whimsically with the very substance of language.

The man that Stebbins plays speaks of coming from somewhere else. He’s speaking with a Standard American accent. He is from somewhere else, though. The affable neutral accent might suggest that he’s not speaking of a physical place at all. It’s somewhere conceptual that he comes from and he’s trying to understand it on an emotional level that he attempts to convey to the audience. Stebbins has a warm, tender presence onstage that serves the role well. Eno has placed certain elements in the script that might have spoken to a kind of unintentionally imposing menace. There’s a darkness in the script that could have had a much darker edge in the hands of another actor. Stebbins open, earnest warmth makes for a very welcoming alternative.

Theatre Gigante’s production of Title and Deed runs through Dec. 3 at Kenilworth 508 Theatre. For ticket reservations and more, visit theatregigante.org.