A few good mates

Breaker Morant

By Kenneth Ross

Directed by Robert A. Miller

Point Park…

Breaker Morant

By Kenneth Ross

Directed by Robert A. Miller

Point Park Playhouse Pittsburgh Playhouse of Point Park College

Through Dec. 8

222 Craft Ave.

(412) 621-4445

About halfway through the first act of Kenneth Ross’ courtroom drama, “Breaker Morant,” my friend whispered to me, “I feel like I’m watching ‘Law and Order.'”

To her, I replied: “I feel like any minute now, Tom Cruise is going to pound his fist on the table and scream, ‘Did you order the Code Red?'”

While skillfully done and well-produced for a local production – the spare set and the meticulously detailed costumes deserve mention here – the Point Park Playhouse production is about as good as a local production can get, but not much better.

“Breaker Morant” is the story of Harry Morant, a well-educated Englishman who lived in Australia for 15 years almost completely by his wits and worked as a troubadour, horseman and horse breaker (where he gained his nickname for his skill), and ultimately as a soldier. He enlisted in the British army at the beginning of the Boer War, and soon attracted his superiors’ attention, finally earning him a position as a dispatch rider.

Entering the basement theater, theater-goers pass through an archway made of cubes filled with yellowed pages torn from old books. These two walls serve as the walls of the cell shared by the title character and his two mates, Lieutenants Peter Handcock and George Witton. The grid – as opposed to just set panels – gives the tiny stage that serves as the cell in which Morant, Handcock and Witton are incarcerated, and the courtroom in which they are prosecuted an almost airy lightness that befits a South African prison.

It’s a clever effect: The audience sits where a courtroom’s gallery would sit, in effect making the audience a part of the trial. On the other hand, the effect is wasted because Morant’s court-martial was held in secret, so how realistic is having a gallery in the courtroom?

David Cabot, who plays the title role, is not a particularly large man, but the makes the larger-than-life role of Morant – who is revered as a something of a folk hero – his own. Cabot as Morant is equally convincing when taking the stand in his own defense during his murder trial or when delivering a few verses of his own poetry. His loyalty to Handcock and Witton is palpable and believable. He sees through the politics that keep him from getting a fair trial, bitterly saying, “The [Boer] war is almost over and the politics begins.”

The final few elegiac lines of the play are sweet and sad: The scene where Morant gives his horse to his lawyer, Major Thomas, is particularly affecting. But in the end, the grid full of papers, which looks nice, but makes no sense, isn’t important until the “dramatic” effect at the end, when it still doesn’t make any sense.

“Breaker Morant” is about as dramatically successful as a local production can be, but is otherwise unremarkable. The brightest spot in this sometimes tediously talky courtroom play is Joel Ripka’s one-off Corporal Sharp. His few lines are a textbook example of making the most of a tiny role.