‘Lobby Hero’ is a rough and tough play that will leave you shell-shocked

Kenneth Lonergan’s blistering drama “Lobby Hero” is newer and to my memory hasn’t been done locally.

It’s a play that’s relevant for the 2024 world we live in.

It’s about lies and the impact on those telling them. It’s about morality. It’s about doing the right thing even when that means compromising someone close to you.

“Lobby Hero” is a very New York sort of play. The language is rough, but it’s essential to project the characters in the story and it reflects exactly what we hear on the streets in Hamilton, as well as all big North American cities.

Watching Lonergan’s play you wonder how safe and comfortable you can feel in an environment where truth can be manipulated with so little moral sense.

We are in a residential hotel. The lobby is presided over by Jeff, a likable loser, who does crossword puzzles and falls asleep when he should be in charge of keeping the place safe. He tries to talk funny and longs to be important. Of course he’s not.

His boss William seems an upright enough character, until he is pushed to make a moral decision involving a murder.

The power force in Lonergan’s play is in the hands of two cops. Bill is a swaggering, self-important sort of guy who manipulates the system. A womanizer and bully, he never-the-less seems benign enough on the surface. But is he? Of course not. He uses his position to control the people in his power zone, with his florid talk and bully club.

Bill’s rookie partner, Dawn, is his sidekick, bent on getting ahead as a cop and understandably disturbed by the bully boy tactics of the officer she works with, painted here as misogynist opportunist who sees women as things to be used.

The play, like the works of such other loud-talking playwrights as David Mamet and David Rabe, has a hard, edgy quality.

And that quality is exactly what’s captured so eloquently in Dundas Little Theatre’s bold production of Lonergan’s play.

You come out of the theatre shell-shocked. Who should you really care about here? Why do you laugh at the things these folks say? And make no mistake Lonergan’s play is funny, but the comedy is tipped with acid.

All this would go for naught if the Dundas production of Lonergan’s sometimes brutal drama weren’t spot on. Thankfully it is.

Director Gregory Flis has delivered a perfectly nuanced, well-paced and forthright production that is filled with energetic performances.

Brian Gilmour is a sad little Jeff, dreaming lies about his future, trying to be funny, always hoping for his big chance and ultimately becoming the catalyst for some devastating truth-telling. You know men like Jeff.

Bernard Applethwhaite is William, Jeff’s boss. He wants to do the right thing, but isn’t sure what that is. He’s also a bit of a petty tyrant enjoying control over those he can terrorize by threatening to use his power to fire them on the spot.

Brad Forbes’ officer Bill has a volcanic feel about him. You just know he could erupt into violence at any moment. And he could use truth to suit his own petty purposes.

Actress Claire Shingleton-Smith is terrific as Dawn, the rookie cop who wants to make good, but is afraid of the mean streets she patrols at night, as well as the lousy men, and is antagonized in the so-called safety of the cop shop.

In fact, this entire cast is terrific, giving “Lobby Hero” a patina of professionalism that is everywhere.

The production, with Michelle Chin’s marble-walled lobby and serviceable, slightly seedy furniture is perfect. The set spills off the stage into the audience with the warning flash of that ever vigilant street light, that suggests a sense of surreal veracity.

Music and sound between scenes by Tim Hevesi and George Thomas sets important mood and tone and those lived-in costumes by Elaine Sharp are excellent, right down to those polished officers’ boots,

If you care anything about tough, ballsy theatre and are bored with feel-good comedies and fluff, don’t miss “Lobby Hero.” It’s bound to shake you up a little. But be warned, not everybody’s going to like its anger and pain.