‘Small Days’ Looks at Job Problems

You need not have lost your job to appreciate “Small Days,” the late-night offering at the Hudson Backstage. You need only sense the career anxiety prevalent in this era of corporate downsizing.

Playwright Timothy McNeil plays Henry, a laid-off engineer who spends most of his days watching TV reruns and drinking whiskey. His wife left him, and to make ends meet he’s taken a night job delivering pizzas. Earl (Christopher Thornton), a friend and former co-worker, tries to talk him out of shooting the man who shuts off the electricity. But somehow the knowledge that he is not alone--”There are thousands of men like me,” Henry says--does little to stem his bitterness and isolation.

“Small Days” is McNeil’s first produced play, and it suffers from a few flaws typical of freshman efforts. Henry’s sardonic sense of humor is so unrelenting that his misfortunes seem at least partly self-inflicted. And when the character’s inevitable breakdown finally takes place, McNeil leaves himself scarcely enough time for a satisfying resolution.

Yet this is compelling theater that dares to address a problem no one likes talking about. McNeil’s dialogue crackles with honesty and wit and, under Mark Ruffalo’s direction, the actors convey the helplessness and guilt plaguing so many battered ‘90s workers.