Review: Superb cast revives ‘Days to Come’

I have a volume of Lillian Hellman’s plays on my shelf, but I wasn’t familiar with “Days to Come” until I saw New York’s Mint Theater Company announcement about free streaming of the 2018 archived production of Hellman’s second play. (No Zoom boxes here.)

“Days to Come” is a magnificent play, yet difficult to pigeon hole as there really are two stories woven through its complexity. Is it a domestic drama or a social commentary? Hellman was just 30 years old when she wrote the play during the Depression; she did eight months of research.

Set in Callum, Ohio, outside Cleveland, the plot involves a brush factory strike, with a trainload of strikebreakers en route. The Rodman family have run the factory for generations and have relationships with their workers. Hellman described “Days to Come” as the story of “innocent people on both sides who are drawn into conflicts and events beyond comprehension.”

The characters are so well written, developed and acted that you won’t have any doubts about their strengths, weaknesses and goals, although goons Dowel and Easter are pretty stereotypical. As directed by J.R. Sullivan (founder of Rockford’s New American Theater and international freelance director and actor), the cast is flawless and emotive.

Mary Bacon as Cora is a despicable, silly, rich woman prone to hysterics, high society, and pepsin drops with chocolate for her headaches. Larry Bull as her brother, Andrew, is the tormented, perplexed, lost soul fighting for his factory, and his wife, Julie.

He is an innocent who’s had a longstanding relationship and friendship with head worker Tom, played by Chris Henry Coffey. There is a bond between the two of kind talk, trust and reason soon destroyed.

Roderick Hill’s Leo Whalen is the upstanding, honest representative of the strikers. “I’m not bright, I’m stubborn.” Janie Brookshire’s Julie demonstrates how sick she is of her own world as she wanders on walks and away from the Rodman estate.

Ted Deasy is the smooth, suave family attorney Henry Elliott, and Dan Daily is the lawless heavyweight strikebreaker and hired family protector, Sam Wilkie. He cautions his goons, played by Geoffrey Allen Murphy and Evan Zes, to “act like you’ve been in a house with a bathroom before.” Kim Martin-Cotten is the loyal cook Hannah with a definite backbone, and Betsy Hogg is Lucy the maid.

Let’s be clear: the entire ensemble have been on and off Broadway and have awards galore. They are all complemented by Andrea Varga’s period-appropriate costumes, as well as Harry Feiner’s quite remarkable set.

Closed captioning is offered for the two-act play.

“Days to Come” ran on Broadway initially for just seven performances and was only revived once in 1978. Hellman described her heartbreak when she observed William Randolph Hearst and his six guests walk out in the middle of the second act. The drama is gripping, intense and powerful. And if you want to see theater at its finest and most exceptional, connect with Mint Theater’s “Days to Come.”

• Regina Belt-Daniels has been involved with theater since the first grade in productions throughout Illinois, Ohio and upstate New York. She eagerly awaits the return of what she loves to do best: act, direct, teach, travel with her husband and attend live theater.

IF YOU VIEW

WHAT: “Days to Come”

WHEN: Through Feb. 21

COST: Free streaming, but donations suggested

INFORMATION: Minttheater.org