River City Players bring 'Harvey' to life

Lots of people know the movie adaptation of the play "Harvey," starring Jimmy Stewart, and likely for good reason. The material the screenwriters had to adapt from was golden. Simply put, the play "Harvey" by Mary Chase is an extraordinary piece of writing.

Meredith Elfrink, who directs the River City Players' dinner theater production of the play that begins tonight at the River City Yacht Club, knew what she was doing when she picked "Harvey," and chose Steve Ruppel to play the lead role of Elwood P. Dowd.

Dowd is the most carefree of spirits, rolling with the punches and never letting anything in life drag him down -- the opposite of his high-society-obsessed, uptight sister Veta Simmons (played by Kathy Heckman).

The beauty of the writing, and of Ruppel's performance, is we don't know if Dowd (clearly an alcoholic) is just some nutjob, a lovable alcoholic in the grip of severe hallucinations, or just an easygoing hedonist who enjoys life and is the only one with his third eye open wide enough to see the pooka.

Ruppel conveys these subtleties and mysteries in Dowd's character without a hitch and interacts with the imaginary Harvey as if he's really there. The clever dialogue adds that much more.

"Some people are blind. That's quite often brought to my attention," he tells a nurse and a psychiatrist in the asylum after his sister is accidentally committed instead of him. Of course, he's alluding to his experiences introducing people to Harvey.

Clever aspects of the plot even point to a deeper theme: What is reality and what is fantasy and how do they relate to happiness? The asylum doctors create their own reality when they commit Veta, Veta and her daughter live a fantasy life as debutantes and Dowd sees an imaginary rabbit (but he's the only one who is happy).

In the end, the audience is left asking its own question about reality: Is Harvey real? You'll have to see to find out.

msanders@semissourian.com

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