Allin’s ‘Right Stuff’

As a college professor of theater and drama, I appreciated Laurie Winer’s laudatory review of “The Real Thing” (“ ‘Real Thing’ Has Right Stuff,” Jan. 20). The play is both emotionally resonant and intellectually challenging, two qualities too rarely wed so comfortably in a single work.

However, I take exception to her assessment of Jeff Allin’s performance as Henry the playwright as “problematic.” Far from being the insecure “sad sack” of Winer’s description, Allin commands the stage with physical vitality when required and with exquisite verbal timing in his character’s more reflective moments. While Jeremy Irons may have brought “charismatic” braggadocio to the role, Allin brings the proverbial quiet desperation that dogs all displaced romantics tormented by the blurred lines between illusion and reality, art and life, monogamy and ownership.

MARY BETH CULP

San Pedro