PicksInSix Review: Come Back Little Sheba - American Blues Theater
Tight, Immersive ‘Sheba’ at American Blues
PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Ronald Keaton
There is a fascinating little piece of trivia connected with the lead character Lola in William Inge's breakthrough classic “Come Back Little Sheba” now playing in a tight, immersive production at American Blues Theater's studio space through March 22. Directed in subtle, loving strokes by Associate Artistic Director Elyse Dolan, the play itself was a landmark in its frank portrayal of alcoholism and many of the features of how people deal with it. Film buffs, of course, recall the great 1952 version with Shirley Booth and Burt Lancaster.
Lola and Doc Delaney are a middle-aged couple in a 20-year loveless marriage, thanks to Doc's drinking issues, which have receded for the moment, but have cost him a promising medical career. It's obvious there's not much affection in this house. They have taken on a boarder, Marie, a young college student with lots of energy and ambition—and two boyfriends. Doc sees Marie and does his best to create time with her. He makes breakfast. He comments on her clothing and her appeal. Lola likes her as well; she sees Marie as a reminder, it seems, of her lost beauty-queen youth. Now Lola does everything she can to not be obvious, but she engages in mild flirtation with both the milkman and the mailman, and to them, well, it's pretty obvious. But she perseveres. In fact, one of the great things about Lola is her endless optimism, no matter what it might cost her.
One evening, Marie invites Turk, a star athlete at school and someone she's been dating, over to study. Eventually the evening goes farther in its youthful way, and Marie and Turk spend the night together in her room. In the morning, Doc—who disapproves of such actions in a staid, conservative way—sees Turk leave. It's a trigger for him, a strong one, and he goes out on a drinking binge. It leaves Lola frantic and wondering what happened to make Doc fall off the wagon. She calls Doc's AA friends, who come to fetch him to hospital—but not before Doc has threatened his wife with a hatchet and insults her to no end. After some time in recovery, Doc comes home hesitantly to a wife who is absolutely petrified but remains loyal in an almost misguided way. They vow yet again to try harder to keep their marriage alive.
This writer admits that at first, the play seems creaky and showed its age. After all, our world has grown up and dealt with alcoholism in more mature material, especially on film. But when the engine kicked into gear as the play's conflict is played out, it took us along strongly. It is indeed a play of its time and really was a breakthrough in its willingness to lay out the alcoholic's plight from Mr. Inge's well-established Midwest platform, which in later years produced “Bus Stop,” “Picnic,” and “The Dark at the Top of the Stairs.”
Let there be no doubt that the play belongs to Lola. She's lonely. She's almost broken in spirit, but her commitment to her marriage is rock-solid, and she tries everything she can to keep it alive and filled with whatever passes for love in this house. To be honest, it would be easy to assess her chosen kindness for classic nagging and a kind of mournful cry. The cry displays itself in Lola calling out for her missing pup Sheba every night. There is also no doubt that ABT stalwart Gwendolyn Whiteside is at the top of her game. She's practically unrecognizable as Lola. Her face takes on some of the traits of her husband's disease. She's frumpy and desperate. Yet she's constantly busy with a smile and an emotional exhaustion that makes us riveted in watching her. Ms. Whiteside offer a master class in detail and in disposition in scene work, and it demands our attention.
Philip Earl Johnson is the earnest, shaky Doc, who is like many men of his generation, burying inside the issues they need to face. Maya Lou Hlava gives her Marie the tightly wound, youthful energy needed to stimulate Lola to her own dreams. Ethan Surpan as Turk and Justin Banks as Bruce are Marie's two eager suitors. Joslyn Jones is a bright light as Mrs. Coffman, the next-door neighbor. Scenic designer Shayna Patel has done exceptionally richly detailed work here. And, about that little piece of trivia: When the playwright Inge was himself in AA, he met and observed the wife of another AA member. Her name was Lola and she became the model for the character in this fine play—Mr. Inge’s first—that undeservedly may have fallen in memory. It remains an honest and compelling examination of one of society's great ills.
GUEST CONTRIBUTOR | RONALD KEATON received an Equity Jeff Award for the performance of his one-man show CHURCHILL. www.solochicagotheatre.org. Coming soon, his new solo play about Ben Franklin, THE FIRST EMBASSY.
PHOTO| Michael Brosilow
American Blues Theater
presents
Come Back Little Sheba
ABT Studio
5627 N Lincoln
through March 22, 2026
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