The Few by Samuel D. Hunter, Matthew Decker directing through April 7, 2019, at Theatre Horizon, Norristown, PA
The Few starts slowly, and gradually unfolds to reveal an interesting character study. It’s a tale well-calculated to provide suspense.
Ostensibly, The Few’s plot centers on the struggle of an Idaho woman to make a living with her newspaper for truckers. But it’s really about fear and loneliness and the relationship between this woman and the paper’s co-founder who walked out four years earlier without explanation and returns as this play begins. He just says “I’m at the end of my rope.” Each of them struggles to combat the overwhelming feeling of friendless desolation that especially affects interstate truck drivers.
This is what impelled Bryan (Steven Rishard) and “QZ” (Suli Holum), along with their friend Jim, to form a support group that gathered in their grungy trailer home, and to start a newspaper to reach out to other truckers who pass through their part of the country. (No explanation is given for the woman’s name.)
The time is 1999 and the characters are worried about Y2K which, it was feared, might cause “world-wide blackouts” and “a world-wide depression” — echoing the theme of this drama.
The slow disclosure of the plot is a key feature of Samuel D. Hunter’s play, so I won’t disclose the details. The Few showcases superb acting by Rishard as a man who retreats from the world and then attempts to deal with it again. Rishard is relatable and sympathetic.
Holum is an accomplished actress playing a character who is resentful, stolid, surly, and who has a habit of slamming doors. Her role has nowhere near the growth of the male protagonist. PJ Barth is appealingly awkward and vulnerable as an idealistic 19-year-old who worships Bryan — or, at least, the Bryan of the past.
Since Bryan left, QZ changed the paper’s editorial content to focus on lonely-hearts personal ads. The three characters are continually interrupted by messages left on an answering machine. These are callers placing ads that are alternately funny and pathetic. Director Matthew Decker chose a group of Philadelphia’s finest actors to record these calls. Unfortunately, the audio quality makes it hard to identify the voices.
Decker does his usual fine work of propelling the actors and creating fascinating stage images.