The Gin Game brings poignant comedy to Martinez theater audiences
MARTINEZ, CA (Jan. 14, 2025) — One of the most challenging plays for older actors just opened at The Campbell Theater, 636 Ward St., Martinez.
“The Gin Game” is a pleasure for audiences, a slight frustration for gin rummy aficionados and a nightmare for performers. I speak from experience having done the show at the Altarena Playhouse in 2016.
It’s not that the play isn’t well written. It certainly is along with relatable characters and lots of poignant moments as well as a fair bit of humor. It’s the 61 pages of lines revolving around approximately 14 games of gin. This is the Kilimanjaro of scripts for performers of a certain age to memorize.
B8 Theatre Company, director Dana Anderson and actors Alan Cameron and Pam Drummer-Williams have taken on the dramatic comedy which plays through Jan. 26.
In a slightly second-rate nursing home, Fonsia and Weller meet and get to know each other’s joys and pains over a well-used deck of cards and many games of gin.
For tickets, call 925-350-9770 or go to https://www.campbelltheater.com/.
FROGGY
For those obsessed with technology, Center Rep presents “About FROGGY,” a graphic novel noir thriller by Jennifer Haley Feb. 9 – March 2.
Nearly a decade in the making, this sensory-rich rollercoaster of a thriller springs theater into a new decade of storytelling. Matt M. Morrow directs a team of groundbreaking theater-artists.
Call 925-943-7469 or go to https://www.centerrep.org/.
Read more Stage Struck columns by Sally Hogarty.
Sally Hogarty
Sally Hogarty is well known around the Bay Area as a newspaper columnist, theatre critic and working actress. She is the editor of the Orinda News. Send comments to sallyhogarty@gmail.com