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‘Dead of Night’
powerful, troubling
drama

Cast shines in play
about friendship, betrayal

Dead of Night: 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through Dec. 3; Kumu Kahua Theatre; $12 Thursdays, $15 Fridays through Sundays, discounts available for seniors, groups, students, children and unemployed. Call 536-4441

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By John Berger
Special to the Star-Bulletin

The time is shortly before Christmas in 1956 Hawaii. Alex (Charles Kupahu Timtim), a union loyalist with a baby on the way, accepts a special assignment from one of the union officials: Do whatever it takes short of murder to convince the owner of a nonunion business that he'd better allow the workers there to organize.

A union spy at the target company has pinpointed a time when the boss and his top stooge will be working late and will be easy targets for Alex and his men.

Alex recruits three of his closest friends for the job. Ikky (Aito Steele) is big but slightly dim-witted. Fuzzy (Marcus R. Oshiro) is an edgy Korean War vet. Jesse (Ely Wyatt Na Ka Ulu 'Aina Rapoza) is a youthful body builder who helps his widowed mother care for a family member who was crippled by a drunk driver.

Alex's supervisor (Dann Seki) forces him to add a fifth man. Luke (Eric Dixon Burns) is a union hitman from the mainland who routinely handles such assignments. He tells the four local union guys how to inflict a sufficient amount of pain without doing fatal damage or leaving telltale marks on their knuckles.

The five men are ambushed and brutally beaten by another group of thugs. It turns out that each of the union men has a plausible motive for betraying the others.

Playwright Edward Sakamoto tells this troubling story in "Dead Of Night." It may well be his strongest and most impressive work to date. It is certainly thought-provoking theater presented in strong and fascinating form by director James A. Nakamoto and a uniformly talented cast at Kumu Kahua.

"Dead Of Night" may be Sakamoto's most controversial work as well.

Sakamoto includes the allegations that some members of the union movement here during the 1940s and '50s gave their first loyalty to the brutal communist dictatorship of Josef Stalin, but makes it clear that Alex and his friends are basic all-American "working stiffs" for whom the end justifies the means.

As Luke, Burns again creates a memorable characterization but the character is so preternaturally obnoxious and overbearing that it is hard to imagine a labor union or any other group sending such a person to work with others on delicate and illegal assignments.

Timtim gives an award worthy performance in the largest role but Oshiro, Rapoza and Steele are each noteworthy in creating a colorful group of familiar local types. Also turning in a fine performance is Leah Gigante as Alex's wife.

The interplay among the local characters as they wait for the mysterious mainland haole hitman, respond to his condescension before the ill-fated mission and then deal with the aftermath, is what this story is all about.

"Dead Of Night" isn't for the squeamish. The language is crude. Four-letter words and racial epithets flow almost nonstop but are certainly appropriate. "Dead Of Night" is powerful contemporary theater.

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