“Old Man and the Sea” fine adaptation at Long Wharf

NEW HAVEN — Anyone who hasn’t read Ernest Hemmingway’s novella “The Old Man and the Sea” will most likely have at least heard of the story that was made into a 1958 film staring the oddly cast Spencer Tracy.
Oddly cast because this is definitely a Cuban story, demanding Hispanic and island actors, of which this play thankfully provides.
Well adapted by director Eric Ting and set designer Craig Siebels, “The Old Man and the Sea” is almost mythic in it’s presentation of a man against the elements.
The play centers on the old man, Santiago, who has had an 84-day run of bad luck catching no fish, while others, using more modern techniques, fair better.
Deciding to travel out farther than ever, by himself, he lands a 1,500-pound marlin that is bigger than his little skiff.
Here an aged fisherman, Santiago, ably and energetically played by Mateo Gomez, fights against his bad luck, with King Lear-like rage, pitting himself against fish and sea.
At one point Santiago asks of the fish, “am I bringing you home, or are you bringing me?”
Referring to the sea as a woman, he says, “I think that the ocean can be so cruel …wild and wicked, she cannot help it.”
And like Icarus who flew too close to the sun, Santiago traveled too far out to sea.
The two-act play strangely feels both longer and shorter than is 90-minute run, which is not a negative comment, but more an observation of the trance-like state it casts.
Hemingway wrote his stories in everyday language that conveyed drama within the simplicity, and this adaptation does the same.
Not shy of self-promotion, he said, with typical Hemmingway brevity, that “The Old Man and the Sea” was “the best I can write ever for my whole life.”
The boat, painted a brilliant weathered blue, has beautiful lines and is set well against the variegated wooden flooring that doubles for a beach, the night sky, and the shack floor of the old man’s home.
Far too old to be fishing by himself, the old man pushes himself beyond endurance, and then further still. Watching him struggle against nature and his mortality is both admirable and sad.
References to baseball, and particularly the fishermen’s beloved Yankees and their hero Joe DiMaggio, parallels Hemmingway’s experience as an avid sportsman and fisherman with the Cuban fishermen he knew while living in his adopted country in the 1940’s.
Supporting actors include the loving and devoted boy, Manolin, played with compassionate respect and admiration by Rey Lucas, and the guitarist and arm wrestler, Cienfuegos, well-played by Leajato Amara Robinson.
There are no surprises in this adaptation, nor does there need to be. The play is all one could ask for from “The Old Man and the Sea” — A finely acted, well directed and well-produced play.

THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA

3 Stars
Location: 222 Sargent Drive, New Haven
Production: By Ernest Hemingway. Adapted by Eric Ting and Craig Siebels. Directed by Eric Ting. Set design by Craig Siebels. Costumes designed by Kaye M. Voyce. Lighting designed by Michael Chybowski. Sound by John Gromada. Original music designed by and co-sound by Ryan Rumery.
Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes plus a 15-minute intermission.
Show Times: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Sundays at 7 p.m., Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8 p.m., with Wednesday and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. and Saturday matinees at 3 p.m. through April 26.
Tickets: $32 to $62. For more information call their box office at 203-776-2287, or visit their website at www.longwharf.org
ACTOR…CHARACTER
Mateo Gomez … The Old Man (Santiago)
Rey Lucas … The Boy (Manolin)
Leajato Amara Robinson … Cienfuegos