Know What They Call A Quarter Pounder With Cheese In England?

UWM’s Studio Theatre rests at the bottom of a stairwell, holding back the bewildering labyrinth of rooms and workshops in the basement below UWM’s Mainstage. Michael Cotey and Daniel Koester share that space with an electric heater and a pair of beds as they mill about playing a couple of characters named Gus and Ben. It’s halfway though a three-night run of the Players Guild’s production of The Dumbwaiter. There aren’t many people in the audience, but that’s to be expected. People are still shoveling themselves out of a few inches of snow that still coats much of the East Side from earlier in the day.

Going to UWM to see Pinter’s The Dumbwaiter feels like going back to high school to watch Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs. Two hit men sit in a basement making casual conversation until their next kill. The wardrobe is familiar: white shirts, black ties, black suits and handguns. Tarantino’s idle small talk between killers in his first two feature films may have been inspired by Pinter. If not, it’s a strange coincidence that John Travolta (who went on to play a hit man in Pulp Fiction) starred as Ben in a 1987 TV movie adaptation of Pinter’s Dumbwaiter as part of a two-hour special directed by Robert Altman.

Koester and Cotey, both in the final year of their BFA acting programs at UWM, opt out of adopting British accents—a decision which takes away some of the flavor of Pinter. Two professional killers rest in a basement somewhere in the British Midlands speaking of tea, “crisps” and “biscuits,” with perfect American accents, but you get used to it. This is actually an excellent choice: adopted British accents can be a fatal distraction if they’re not perfectly on the mark. The clarity of Pinter’s more visceral emotions shines through a captivating performance. Cotey and Koester handle the tension in the basement quite well, aided by the ominous, booming mechanical sounds of a restaurant dumbwaiter at key moments. All the British specifics wash away and all the audience is left with is two men awaiting their fate in a windowless basement with almost no connection to the outside world. Cotey and Koester stumble a bit in places, but the illusion is remarkably convincing for much of the one-act. Holding Pinter’s tension with authentic emotion for the entire act is quite an accomplishment given that Cotey and Koester are just a few paces from even those in the back row of a very small theatre space. It’s a really good show that could hold a crossover appeal for those younger audiences that are so illusive to the mainstream theatre companies in town. Too bad it runs only one more night.

The Players Guild’s production of The Dumbwaiter closes Wednesday, December 12 at the UWM Studio Theatre. The show starts at 7:30 pm. Admission is Free.

Ryan was born and raised in Milwaukee, but never fully understood how wonderfully cool a city it is until she started working with Vital. Now she's an art scene devotee, and she's loving every minute of it.