Arts & Entertainment
Review: 'The Gin Game' at Clockwork Repertory Theatre
'The Gin Game' with Harold and Susan Pantely will close with an added matinee at 3pm on Sunday, February 26 to make up a cancelled show.
"I have one of the most advanced cases of old age in the history of Medical Science. The mortality rate's incredible." - ‘The Gin Game’
Oakville, CT - A letter from the retired directors of the Clockwork Repertory Theatre in Oakville arrived in the mail. Harold J. and Susan Pantely noted that they used their old stationery and envelopes for this important announcement: “We waited 39 years to perform this play! D.L. Coburn’s ‘THE GIN GAME, 1978 Pulitzer Prize Winning Drama!” The couple has wanted to do the two-person play since 1978, but they were too young back then. Instead of casting age-appropriate actors for a production at the Clockwork, they decided to wait.
The couple goes on to explain to their patrons that they both retired from running the theatre in 2015 and handed the reins over to Ed Bassett and the crew of the Phoenix Stage Company (formerly of Naugatuck.) The PSC has now been operating in Oakville for over a year and decided to include ‘The Gin Game’ in their 2017 season at their new location; Harold and Susan decided that it was time for them to step out of retirement and finally perform this play that they both have loved for so long.
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In fact, the seat in the second row was close to the one I sat in on my very first visit to the Clockwork Repertory for a review of ‘Rumors’ that is still available on Patch.com. It was back in 2012 and before I was a contributor to Onstage, so I was posting my entire reviews on the Naugatuck Patch. As I waited for the play to begin, I was reminded of how I opened what was one of my very early theatre reviews.
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‘The Gin Game’ with Harold and Susan Pantely will close with an added matinee at 3pm on Sunday, February 26 to make up for the weather-related cancellation.
Nancy Sasso Janis is a member of the Connecticut Critics Circle and continues to contribute theatre news on local Patch sites. Follow her on Twitter at @nancysjanis417 and at her Facebook page Connecticut Theatre Previews.
