Photo by Lila Aryan
Director C. Michael Wright carves weighty drama into an earthen stage with Milwaukee Chamber Theatre’s production of The Train Driver. Athol Fugard’s emotionally intense drama is the story of a man coping with the death of a stranger who walked with her baby out into the path of his train.
David Daniel is deeply engaging as the driver. He has come to a burial place for the nameless in search of the grave of those he had seen in their last flash of life. The character is torn up inside in every conceivable way, which has got to be an emotionally annihilating thing to bring to the stage. Daniel is also given the challenge of doing so in the bulk of 90 relentless minutes with almost no break. Fugard paints the character in intricate complexity that Daniel brings to the stage with a cleverly fevered clarity. The sensitivity Daniel brings to the role keeps the character defined by his emotional imbalance without losing sight of the basic humanity that makes him freely relatable to everyone in the audience.
Michael A. Torrey plays the gravedigger who is paid to bury the nameless. Fugard doesn’t allow the character to have any deep sense of poetic articulation. That might be far too cliché. The gravedigger has perhaps been clinging to life alone amidst the shadows for far too long to be able to coax his deeper thoughts into words. He isn’t well spoken, but there’s a wisdom deep within him that Torrey conjures with strength and resilience. Through this strength, Torrey brings warmth to the stage even in silent moments.
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Through March 15 at the Broadway Theatre Center’s Studio Theatre, 158 N. Broadway. For tickets, call 414-291-7800 or visit chamber-theatre.com.
