Charles Dickens' "Hard Times" lacks the familiarity of his more widely read and repackaged works -- "Oliver Twist," "David Copperfield," "The Tale of Two Cities" -- that often turn up on stage and screens both large and small.
Although I've never read it, it's reportedly a polemic against Utilitarianism -- an economic philosophy that values only that which is commercially useful, as in the work but not the worker.
In Stephen Jeffreys' stage adaptation, now being performed by the Pittsburgh Playhouse Repertory Company, it's Dickens' indictment of this philosophy that values hard facts over fancy, utility over beauty, reason over emotion.
The play is set in the 1840s in Coketown, a fictionalized Victorian industrial town in the English Midlands. But it's not difficult to see how Dickens' indictment of considering human endeavor only in monetary terms might have parallels in contemporary American economic policies, both corporate and governmental.
As in all of Dickens' tales, there's a core story of a main character -- here, it's Thomas Gradgrind (Robert Haley) and his adult children, Louisa and Tom -- surrounded by subplots of a plethora of minor characters. Gradgrind, a merchant-turned-schoolteacher, indoctrinates his children into the philosophy of facts, not fancy. The belief system leads Louisa, played by the exquisitely comely Christine Ryndak, to marry middle-aged Josiah Bounderby (David Cabot), not for love but to make life easier for her wayward brother, Tom (Brian Barefoot).
The Playhouse Repertory Company gives Jeffreys' adaptation the full support of a company of 18 Equity actors in full period regalia by Joan Markert, who tops off her efforts with some well-done and authentic ladies' hats.
Directed by John Amplas, the show moves quickly, almost seamlessly through the multiplicity of locations and episodes that are a signature of Dickens' novels.
Familiar area actors, such as the ever-changeable Martin Giles, lend interest. Daniel Krell's James Harthouse pursues the married Louisa with a wonderfully smarmy and predatory charm. Susan McGregor-Laine turns up as the scheming and vengeful Mrs. Sparsit, and Melanie Julian brings the cheery, obliging and not-too-bright Sissy Jupe to life.
But much as I enjoy watching the always-interesting Philip Winters, his death came as something of a relief, because that meant the denouement had arrived and it was time to start tying up loose ends. That's because this production of "Hard Times" requires dedication, not just to keep track of its many characters, but to follow the story.
Part of the problem comes from the actors' varying success with Midlands accents that result in muddy, often indistinct, dialogue.
We're also repeatedly distracted by Abigail Hart-Gray's scenic design that projects archival photos and footage onto a rust-streaked metal shed that covers most of the back wall. Some of the images are distorted by the slant of the shed's roof; others are viewed only as narrow slits of a large background over which a camera pans and scans. It's easy to lose track of the story's progress while attempting to puzzle out what the filmed objects represent.
Clocking in at almost three hours with one intermission, the saving grace of this production of "Hard Times" is that it eliminates any reason to read the book. Additional Information:
Details
'Hard Times'Presented by: Pittsburgh Playhouse Repertory Company
When: Through April 4. Performances: 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays
Cost: $18 and $22
Where: Pittsburgh Playhouse of Point Park University, 222 Craft Ave., Oakland
Details: (412) 621-4445
