Word: joeys
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...born, in any event, right into comedy. Brooks was one of the four sons of Harry Einstein, a radio dialect comedian who performed under the name Parkyakarkus. At 15, Albert had got up his own act (a short-lived double with Joey Bishop's son Larry). At about the same time, he landed a job at KMPC in Los Angeles as a sportswriter; he made up most of the baseball scores. After studying acting for two years at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Tech, he took the family name of Brooks and became a TV comedy writer on a show...
Butley takes place entirely with in the small and crowded office of Ben and Joey. In an exhibition of dexterity that nearly matches that of their word-play, the two lecturers manage to avoid with a graceful and familiar ease the various chairs, desks, book cases, and lamp cords that clutter the stage. Director John Greenwood has taken his actors and put them in a confining (and potentially dangerous) set, that serves only to accentuate the petty and bitter world of Ben Butley's academia. The direction is totally unobtrusive--which is exactly as it should be in a small...
FORTUNATELY FOR Eisenberg, Jeremy Gordon as the disillusioned disciple, Joey, presents an equally accomplished performance. Joey was at one time one of Butley's students; now, he is an assistant lecturer worried about his promotion who shares who both office and apartment with his mentor. He is also a homosexual. Watching these two English scholars as they struggle their way through their forensic and clearly intimate friendship is a delight. Early in the first act, Ben badgers Joey with questions about his new found friend, Reg, a brawny football and cooking enthusiast from Leeds, commenting. "My natural force plays excitingly...
...story that can't fall far from home. As we watch Ben Butley lose both his wife and his best friend in a single day, it becomes clear that he is a brilliant, captivating man who has failed his promise. At the end of the play, he turns to Joey, reminds him of their past creative relations, to which Joey replies. "I know. But those were in the days when you still taught. Now you spread futility, Ben." And Butley's importance lies, ultimately, in its subtle ability to lend an understanding of this perhaps too familiar academic frustration...
...wave of the hand. "It all came about in a really bizarre dream that I've gone into too many times already. Right now, the East seems to fit in my mind more than the West. At the time, I thought anything would be better than Bobby, Billy, Joey, Sammy, Freddie, or Richie--all of which reduce to zilch. I never really thought about the repercussions of changing my name. And you know, all three of my uncles have different names. But the music is what's really important. It doesn't matter what your name is, the music...