The overweening egos of monomaniacs trigger two shows opening Friday in Minneapolis. At Frank Theatre, actor John Catron picks through the memories of a social misfit in "Misterman." Over at Mixed Blood, the dangerous pathology of tyranny looms over "In the Time of the Butterflies."
Playwright Enda Walsh spins innocence and obsessive-compulsive disorder into a disturbing character in "Misterman." Frank's artistic director, Wendy Knox, said that each time she and colleagues listened as the play was read, it revealed new layers: mental health, bullying, fundamentalist religion and outsiders. Catron portrays Magill, a seemingly amiable gent who habitually records his conversations with people. He plays them back, trying to reassemble events and make sense of his life.
"One of the things this character is trying to do — and it's something we all try to do, perhaps he's more intentional — is to make his most painful memories disappear or at least make them less painful," Catron said.
Audiences might have seen Catron recently in "Long Day's Journey Into Night" at the Guthrie. He's also acted there in "Hay Fever" and "The Winter's Tale." He has done several years in "All Is Calm" and acted in Illusion's "My Antonia." This is his third time working with Knox at Frank. He played the main role in an adaptation of "Metamorphosis" and a central part in "By the Bog of Cats."
"This play has a lot to say about a person on the fringe and what they can be pushed to do by an amalgamation of circumstances," Catron said.
All the tapes to which Catron's character listens use voice-overs recorded by a pack of Twin Cities actors: Patrick Bailey, Bain Boehlke, Virginia Burke, Chris Carlson, Sara Richardson and Joe Dowling among them. In an e-mail, Knox said that sound designer Michael Croswell "has perhaps even a bigger job than Catron" with nine working reel-to-reel tape players on the set.
Walsh's work has ranged from this small and darkly enigmatic play to the Tony-winning book for "Once." In his acceptance speech, Walsh poked fun at how his gritty reputation was at odds with writing for a musical.
"It's the equivalent of stage producers getting the rights to do 'It's a Wonderful Life' and then getting Charles Manson to do it," Walsh said.
