D. L. Coburn’s The Gin Game is a widely acclaimed, Tony and Pulitzer-winning two-person play that begs to be produced. It allows for two older actors to tear into meaty characters in a desperate situation. When it crashed onto the scene in 1977, it was considered a landmark because of its tragicomedy look at the not-so-quiet desperation of two lonely souls shoved into a nursing home and desperate to retain some sort of lucidity and control of their lives. Actors, directors, producers, and audiences love the play. And then there’s me. I see the potential here, and I enjoy the comedy, but the problem is that Coburn’s true-to-life, not very likeable characters are so filled with angst and it leads to such sturm und drang that it’s easy for directors and performers to let it go too far. I hadn’t seen a production with the kind of restraint at the right times to make it work the way I suspect it should.

Rarely produced in the valley these days, it will ironically be given two productions in the next few months. The first is an offering by the North Valley Playhouse directed by recent valley transplant Paula Shulak. Shulak has a long list of creds from the mid-Atlantic region as a director, performer, and a critic, so this script should be a natural fit. She has tapped one well-known valley actress (Barbara McGrath) and a NVP alum (Bruce Klefstad) to play the roles of Fonsia and Weller. The result is an uneven production with strong staging and a cogent emotional connection between the performers that is balanced by awkward pauses, stop-and-start pacing, oft-repeated and stepped-upon lines, and a performance by Klefstad that is initially much-too-repulsive and never recovers from the choice.

Shulak’s blocking gets as much movement as possible from a pretty sedentary script, a welcome choice. She uses much of the stage beyond the card table, and keeps Weller moving around as much as possible to emphasize his handicap and his feeling about confinement. Fonsia is kept more stationary, although she is planted in many different areas throughout.

McGrath and Klefstad do well bringing across the emotional attachments bonded by these two desperate characters. McGrath expresses especially well her constant switching back and forth feelings Fonsia feels about Weller, although she doesn’t come across quite as uptight as the character seems to be. Klefstad appears to think well on his feet, dealing with various missteps and card problems with good extemporaneous comments and reactions. However, Klefstad’s initial impression as Weller is odious. It’s hard to believe even a desperately lonely Fonsia would deign to speak to this much of a boor. It’s true that the character is curmudgeonly, but there must be something attractive about Weller to ingratiate him to her. Klefstad shows a charming side later in the first act, but by then, the contract with the audience hasn’t been set.

Carl Shulak’s set includes a very interesting choice for the doors, but the choice of black and white is puzzling. The clever rigging for the rainstorm is a bit of stage magic made less effective by its visibility. Bette Hazlett’s costumes and Petey Swartz’s sound design are the strongest of the elements in this limited space.