“The River Why” is a first-person narrative of a young man, Gus Orviston, and his coming-of-age through fly fishing, an endeavor into which he was literally born. His parents Henning and Carolina met each other and conceived him on the banks of a river. Henning Hale Orviston is a noted authority on fly fishing and his mother, Carolina, is a conversely unfussy advocate of simple rod and bait. Their family scripture is Isaak Walton's “The Compleat Angler”. The boy catches his first big fish at four, and by the time of this story, at 18, he wants to do nothing in the world but fish, as much as 18 hours a day by his careful calculation, and he leaves home to do just that. Finding more boredom than fulfillment, he begins to question whether there is more to life, more to meaning than just fishing, a distressing possibility, until he meets a young woman named Eddy who is even more skilled at angling and more gratifying a catch, albeit not an easy one.
A combination of funny, distinctive characters and serious moral, ethical and social questions, this novel by David James Duncan has become a contemporary classic, appealing most improbably to people who have never been near a fishing pole, as well as to the committed angler. Beautifully written, it pursues a metaphor of life's river, fragile and enduring, and the skills and knowledge required to capture its abundance. The narrator's voice is both articulate and guileless, mirroring the voices of his parents. Exquisite description of the natural world is matched by the richness and authenticity of Gus's personal quest for belief, for love and connection, and for a unity between his life and life itself.
One would think that a novel that largely takes place hip-deep in a river would present enormous staging demands, but this production, adapted and directed by Myra Platt, solves that problem with ease. The imaginative set design by Carey Wong uses shallow panels of colored glass, the actors walking between them, to represent the water. What becomes a greater challenge and is ultimately unsatisfied is making Gus's inner-world as rich and complex as it is in the novel. We get everything in the story about fishing, but we don't quite get everything in the book of what fishing is about.
Jeffrey Frieders is a charming and immensely likable Gus and he brings great energy and naturalness to the role. His connection with everyone else in the cast was strong and believable. When he is smitten with Eddy (an unaffected and naturally beautiful Erika Eie) it was amusing and sweet. His big breakup with his parents (Mark Chamberlin and Lisa Carswell, both spot-on) was a hot enough flash fire, but again didn't really suggest the depth of his disavowal of their values or his need and desire to make his own way. It was too easily resolved. A standout performance was given by Tim Hyland as Zeke, a redneck relative who relays the family legend of the capture of the mighty Nijinsky, Hennings great trophy fish and the one that brought his parent's together. His bit as Descartes, the dog who sits in his own chair, was delightful, and he managed to bring substance to a poor fisherman whom Gus finds floating in the river, occasioning deep reflections on mortality and meaning.
In the end, this production of “The River Why” is competent but somehow unsatisfying, like a fish that puts up a big fight and ends up being smaller than one expected. Book-It, as always, brings great skill and knowledge to this adaptation and the actors give a commendable performance, but something about the curious invention, the originality and urgency of the book, the inner pursuit of a boy's story of fishing that isn't really about fishing doesn't manage to make it to the stage.
PICTURED ABOVE: Gus (Jeffrey Frieders) fishes with Eddy (Erika Eie) in Book-It Repertory Theatre's The River Why.
PHOTO BY: John Ulman.
