Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – More than a decade on, Martin Moran revisits his exquisitely-wrought, deeply conflicted THE TRICKY PART in the #MeToo era

• By drediman
• December 9, 2018
• No Comments

Martin Moran in “The Tricky Part” at TBG Mainstage Theatre. Photo by Edward T. Morris.

This weekend, I caught Martin Moran’s re-visitation of his exquisitely wrought, deeply conflicted 2005 one-man theatrical memoir The Tricky Part at the TBG Mainstage Theatre. I had read a lot about Mr. Moran’s performance in this seminal piece of solo theater – I had even seen a local Chicago theater production sans Mr. Moran back in 2006 at the Bailiwick Repertory Theatre starring Kevin D. Mayes – so it was an especially profound opportunity to be able to experience his performance 13 years on since premiering the work.

Times have changed tremendously since 2005. We’ve got Trump in office, Brexit somehow is a reality, and the #MeToo movement is in full swing. So how does Mr. Moran’s confessional about his experience as a sexually-abused 12-year-old boy resonate today? It’s as hard-hitting as ever, I’d say. If anything, the play is even more effective in our current age of one-dimensional twitter feeds and jump-to-the-gun social media-fueled feuds. The Tricky Part skillfully accomplishes a high wire balancing act of sorts by bravely looking at this undeniably traumatic experience from all angles. In the process, Mr. Moran dissects causality, the nature of love, and progress vis-à-vis pain.

As for the soft-spoken, unassuming Mr. Moran’s performance, it’s everything I had hoped it would be. His graceful, understated but wise performance quietly grabs the heart and wrenches the gut (kudos to the casual but disarmingly stealthy work of director Seth Barrish), as it so convincingly and sensitively puts the audience into the shoes of his twelve-year-old self. From that standpoint, right and wrong, black and white, love and abuse eschew labels, thereby refreshingly unclasping the experience from a pre-determined narrative. As a result, Mr. Moran’s The Tricky Part is theater at its most human and unflinchingly probing.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

THE TRICKY PART
Off-Broadway, Play
TBG Mainstage Theatre
1 hour, 25 minutes (without an intermission)
Through xxx