“Trying” Performance Offers Tender, Touching Moments

Cara Russell and Fred Whitridge share a tender moment in "Trying" currently playing at The Grange. —Photo by Chris Thomerson

A review by Lin McNulty

When the new job is difficult, and the new boss is irksome, what’s a salty young Canadian woman from Saskatoon to do? Well, if she wants the job, she keeps trying.

When the new employee is inexperienced and outspoken, what’s the aging, irascible Judge from Harvard to do? Well, if he needs someone to help him write his memoirs, he keeps trying.

Separated by generations, can these two find common ground? Circumstances would indicate not; they are too different or, perhaps, too much alike. Such sets the stage for the beautiful Actors Theater play which opened Friday night at the Grange.

The play is based on the true story of when the playwright, Joanna McClelland Glass, worked for Judge Francis Biddle, former U.S. Attorney General and chief American judge at the Nuremburg Tribunal, in the last year of his life in Washington, D.C.

Fred Whitridge, who is 88, admits it is a stretch for him to play a younger man of only 81, but his portrayal of Judge Francis Biddle is extremely touching. His crotchety and cantankerous manner is sincerely credible.

Cara Russell as Sarah Schorr, the judge’s new secretarial employee, provides a beautiful, nostalgic trip back to the late 60s (picture Linda Ronstadt on stage). Russell pulls a lot of heart as well as spunk from her character and delightfully shares a full range of emotions with the audience.

Both actors capture their feisty characters effortlessly—moving from being verbally bombastic to silenced by tears. The audience is immediately drawn into the performance and is deeply touched, if not stunned, by the splendid interaction.

“Trying” continues at The Grange on Saturday, July 30, and next weekend, Friday August 5 through Sunday August 7. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available for $10 from Darvills Bookstore, or online at Brown Paper Tickets.