Iron Age Theatre

Presents

With
Bob Weick as Karl Marx

Directed by John Doyle

An article by Stacy Briggs of phillyBurbs.com. .

Finding the humanity in his art


A latecomer to acting, Bob Weick is adept at bringing both credibility and integrity to the characters he plays on stage — yet maintains a humility that immediately puts other actors at ease.
Bob Weick has a gift.
It has to be seen to be believed.
He’s one of our region’s finest actors, yet he seems to fly just under our theatrical radar.
There are reasons for that, certainly.
He’s a farrier — he shoes horses — by trade.
But those who direct him and those who act with him know.
Just ask Randy Wise.
He and John Doyle, graduates of Villanova University’s Master of Theater Arts program, co-founded Iron Age Theatre in 1989. The company works in a variety of venues in Philadelphia and throughout the Delaware Valley, emphasizing what it calls cutting-edge “environmental/site theater.”
Iron Age has produced original works and classical pieces — from Edward Albee’s beautiful and brutal “Zoo Story” to “Wedding on the Eiffel Tower,” Jean Cocteau’s wild surrealistic fantasy. Beginning with a preview Thursday, it will stage Martin McDonagh’s “A Skull in Connemara,” a dark and very funny comedy, at the Center Theatre at the Montgomery County Cultural Center in Norristown.
Once again, it is the 50-year-old Weick, of Kintnersville, who is bringing immediate credibility to one of the theater’s productions. “Absolutely,” says Wise. “He’s a unique combination of things. He’s an actor in his 50s — and he’s not doing it in New York or Los Angeles. He doesn’t do theater for a living, although he seems to be moving in that direction. He’s a farrier in his other life. But he’s at a stage where he can take time off to concentrate on the theater.
“And he brings a lot to the table. He really doesn’t have any formal training in the theater. A lot of the people we work with have a bachelor’s degree in theater or a master’s degree in theater. But Bob — he’s learned this by doing it, and that’s a really valuable thing.”
Iron Age and its audiences already have witnessed the breadth and depth of his work firsthand.
In 2003, the cast of “Terra Nova” was nominated for a Barrymore Award for Best Ensemble.
But there is no doubt it relied on Weick’s work.
He played Robert Falcon Scott, a British Royal Naval officer and Antarctic explorer, who, having failed to be the first to reach the South Pole, died with his party on the Ross Ice Shelf while trying to return to the safety of their base and became the most famous hero of the “heroic age” of Antarctic exploration.
“He has several strengths, but certainly his personal integrity and credibility (are paramount),” says Wise. “He’s very selective about the parts he takes. And that’s a really smart thing. He’s very careful. He picks those where he knows he can bring his talents and skills to a role and a production. He has an extraordinary gift to work with other people. He’s not a diva at all.
“There are a whole range of personalities in a production, in any of our productions, but for the most part, most are well-grounded, most are down-to-earth. Bob is absolutely about the project, not about him. The last couple of shows, he’s worked with young actors. He has a willingness to share his thoughts, and he goes out of his way to make them feel comfortable — and to make them better. He’s just so secure in who he is and what he is. That type of humility — well, that’s refreshing.”
In “Skull,” Weick plays gravedigger Mick Dowd, whose annual job is to make room for the newly deceased in an older part of cemetery in Leenane, a small village in a lonely spot at the head of a long Connemara fjord. (You might remember the playwright’s trilogy also includes “The Beauty Queen of Leenane” and “The Lonesome West.”)
Yes, that does mean he disinters the bones of previous inhabitants. But don’t be shocked. Until recently, reusing old graves was a common practice throughout much of Europe.
As the play opens, it’s time for Mick to dig up the remains of his late wife, Oona, and village gossip is generating strange rumors about his involvement in her sudden and violent death seven years earlier.
A local policeman (Markus Zanders), who fancies himself a crack detective but who is much more like the bumbling Inspector Clouseau, is one of the loony characters prying into Mick’s past. Saddled with Mairtin, a teenage hooligan (played by Adam Altman) who is more a hindrance than a help on the job, Mick tries to come to grips with his loneliness and angst over the loss of his wife, as well as deal with the whispered aspersions of the village.
“(Bob’s) the central figure in this play — the plot runs through him,” says Wise. “But it’s been interesting to see Adam and Bob work together. He watches Bob. He watches him very closely. Now that’s a smart young actor. We’re ensemble-oriented. We’re always communicating with each other. I don’t sit in a high chair. If there’s a problem, we stop what we’re doing and talk it out. (Bob’s) an integral part in any discussions we have. He doesn’t always have an opinion. And, of course, that’s a good thing, too.”
The praise is well-deserved.
And we all can thank Donna Paris.
“I really stumbled into acting — one of those ‘life begins at 40’ things,” says Weick. “It was ’93, maybe ’94, and I started to sing with the Palisades Community Chorus. Donna Paris, who was the founder and director of the group, heard me and suggested that I might want to give theater a try. Well, the next day, there were auditions for ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ for a Flemington (N.J.) community theater group. I got a role. The night of the show came, and I was terrified. I swore I would never get involved in another production. But by the end of the run, I was hooked.” So he began studying with acting coaches, including Celeste Walker and George DiCenzo.
“I wanted to get involved with people who are experienced professionals who can help an actor polish his craft,” says Weick, who adds: “One of them told me, ‘If you can act, I can help you. If you can’t act, I can’t.’ ”
He puts the Robert Falcon Scott role, as well as that of Karl Marx in Howard Zinn’s “Marx in Soho,” directed by Iron Age’s Doyle, which he’s still doing these days, at the very top of his list.
“They’re both very real characters,” says Weick. “There’s lots of research you can tap into to help you form your character. With fictional characters, you have the same task of making choices, but you have to concern yourself with what he might walk like and what he might talk like.
But that’s all worked out with your imagination and your director. I like the historical plays, I suppose, because you can do a lot more research.” Wise agrees.
“His Karl Marx (in which he explores Marxian theories, as well as the battles of caste and class) is astoundingly strong,” he says. “Bob’s characters — they’re visceral, complex, flawed. Bob explores their human side. They’re not just cutouts.”
McDonagh’s plays are permeated with a dark, brooding Irish cynicism, counterpointed with verbal wit and physical comedy. There’s a strong undertow of violence, too.
He subverts traditional romantic attitudes toward the west of Ireland with portrayals of the mean-spiritedness and petty jealousies below the surface of rural Irish life.
Enter Weick. He’s attracted to McDonagh’s works for a very good reason.
“Me mother’s family is from County Clark (in Ireland),” says Weick, practicing a delightful Irish brogue. “I could relate being Irish Catholic. … (McDonagh) has a great ear for dialogue. It’s a wonderful release sometimes to get involved in a Monty Python-esque dialogue. You’re just performing — and you don’t think anything’s funny, but the audience is laughing hysterically.”
At one point last month, Weick was involved in his one-man “Marx in Soho,” as well as an understudy role in the Philadelphia Theatre Company’s production of “After Ashley” and his rehearsals for “Skull.”
“I had three plays going in my head at the same time,” says Weick. “You just have to let go. But there was a point where my Irish sounded British-German, and one night in rehearsals, I was swapping w’s for v’s. It was very strange. But each character has a different emotional life, and that helps.”