Quentin Chisholm and Éilis Cahill, photo by Andrea Phox
(LONG BRANCH, NJ) -- World premiere plays can be tricky. Sometimes a few tweaks here and there can completely change a play for the better or for the worse, and I tend to give premieres a bit of leeway. You're not just reviewing the play itself, but the play's potential as well.
New Jersey Repertory Company (NJ Rep) is currently presenting Make Believe by John Biguenet, a playwright who has had two previous works (Night Train and Broomstick) have their premieres at NJ Rep as well.
The production is directed by SuzAnne Barabas and stars Quentin Chisholm (Bailey) and Éilis Cahill (Eleanor) as two people in Hollywood during the 1930s. Bailey is a Hollywood star and Eleanor is a prostitute. They are meeting in a hotel room for the purpose of having the story of their affair caught by a photographer. It’s a PR stunt.
(Photos by NJ Rep)
Hollywood was the place of dreams and Bailey was not your ordinary heartthrob of the day. He’s an actor who is gay decades before that was ok for a film star. The problem is that there isn’t much mystery to it. It’s fairly easy to see what the two are doing and why they are doing it. In my opinion, not enough was done to provide a sense of him trying to hide his lifestyle or to show the Hollywood star in a different light. We wind up watching the two of them try to get their stories set rather than get inside their own lives more.
There are moments such as when Eleanor thought he looked a bit like the Hollywood star when she has him act out a scene from one of his films. Moments like that offered an opportunity to create two distinct worlds for Bailey, but failed to create the Hollywood image he was seeking to protect.
I think the premise of the play is sound. Timing wise, it’s good to look back at the past and at a time when secrets like this could ruin an actor’s career - especially in light of the current political world which is pointing back to those days. But for the play to truly work, we need Bailey to be an actor the audience could not imagine was gay - think of someone like Rock Hudson where the movie industry may have known, but the public was largely oblivious. That level of secret did not seem to be there for me.
Both Quentin Chisholm and Éilis Cahill do fine jobs with their roles, but it just seems like the play needs something more. Maybe it could benefit from Eleanor probing his lifestyle more or even threatening to blackmail him, but I think it really just needs a stronger contrast between Bailey the Hollywood star as the movie industry wants his persona to be seen and Bailey the man himself. The potential is there, but tweaks are needed.
The play runs through March 9, 2025 at New Jersey Repertory Company (179 Broadway) in Long Branch, New Jersey. For ticket information, click here.
This is one of nearly 130 world premieres to take place at NJ Rep since the company’s was founded in 1997 by SuzAnne and Gabor Barabas. The company has done a remarkable job producing plays and giving playwrights opportunities. In addition to the full productions, the company has presented over 400 developmental readings and introduced more than 130 new works through its Theatre Brut Short-Play Festivals that focus on visionary and avant-garde works.
Here are more photos from the production by Andrea Phox.
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