A Loss of Initial Charm

It’s smart, savvy and sometimes comical. The script is well-written and the actors perform with poise and pride. The set is also the most ambitious of any production at the Gene Frankel Theatre during the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity.

But somewhere during the 60-minutes that encapsulate Tyler Ham Pong’s “Two Days ‘Til Dawn,” the production loses its charm.

While many say that charm is developed later in life, this production has most of its at the very beginning.

Scrambled in pretty metaphor and eloquent language, the play forfeits its charisma as it lingers to the finish line.

While it is still ultimately enjoyable, the play’s eventual success has more to with the cast’s ability than the script itself.

Lost in a web of lost dreams, Sol (Geoffrey Pomeroy)is unable to break a potentially career-ending case of writer’s block and ultimately, the witty, yet temperamental scribe has a nervous breakdown. Infectiously cheeky, Pomeroy is able to make himself a compelling character and one any serious writer will be able to identify with. From his lack of short-term memory to his endless amount of useless knowledge, he nails his part.

But before long, the production, much like Pomeroy’s character, looses its contact with reality. This is where things begin to go astray. After a scene that sees him interacting with his family, Sol faints and is eventually greeted by a ghost. Two more find their way into the play by its end. Their mission? To help Sol find a way out of his self-made abyss and put the pieces of his life back together.

While the interactions between Sol and the ghosts are interesting, it all feels too much like “The Secret Window” meets “A Christmas Carol.” It’s too predictable that Sol will somehow be saved and live to fight another day. With all of his problems, Sol deserves more than a linear ending.

It’s sad that a production with so much potential was tied up in such a pretty bow with so little left to the imagination.

The supporting plot however, which sees Sol in a silent competition with his wife (Mary Monahan), also a writer, was much more intriguing. Forced to keep himself together while his niece, Jennifer (Jillian K. Waters) spends the weekend, we can see this character’s desperation to keep it all together firsthand. Add in his sly stepbrother (Anthony Ames) who has an agenda all his own and you have a story that practically tells itself.

Instead, the production has flashes of brilliance, but in the end, doesn’t deliver. Had the play focused more on the real drama and not the illusions, there would have been far less drag and the end product would have felt more organic.

That doesn’t mean that you won’t enjoy the performance though. It just means that you’ll leave wanting more of something that Pong’s script isn’t capable of giving.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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