By BRUCE DENNILL
Tuesdays With Morrie / Directed by Alan Swerdlow / Theatre On The Square, Sandton, Johannesburg
Mitch Albom is an extraordinary writer in whose work themes such as fate, meaning and redemption are regularly examined as he delves deep into what makes his characters human in agreeably complex and nuanced ways. Tuesdays With Morrie was his first book and remains, arguably, his most famous. And despite his extraordinary skills when it comes to constructing stories and populating them with believable characters (including, in his 2023 novel Stranger In The Lifeboat, some claiming to be God), Tuesdays… is a memoir – recollections of a special relationship and how it shaped a younger, college-age Albom.
That relationship was with Professor Morris (Morrie) Schwartz, a lecturer on several courses Albom took at college on his way to becoming a successful sports writer in Detroit. Schwartz, according to the book, the play (written by Albom and Jeffrey Hatcher) was a voluble, cheerful sort for whom teaching was a profoundly meaningful vocation and for whom frequent interactions with students provided endless opportunities to share wisdom accumulated over the course of a well-lived life.
The play focuses on the two main parts of the relationship between Albom and Schwartz – the latter’s investment in the former’s potential at university and their initially tentative reunion some 16 years later. By this point, Albom has built an impressive career and reputation as a journalist on the back of never saying no to an assignment and, consequently, having little time left in his life for significant interactions with others. Schwartz, meanwhile, has aged and is starting to struggle with an ailing body, even if his mind is still sharp. In the script, Albom doesn’t shy away from the self-centredness that saw him fail to keep a promise to stay in touch with Schwartz after graduation and for the better part of two decades thereafter, and Schwartz is cheekily happy to remind him of his shortfalls as a mentee. On such sparring – generally warm and sincere – is a precious bond rebuilt.
The excellent writing and the lived experience behind the dialogue has made Tuesdays With Morrie hugely popular as a play (it has been staged hundreds of times around the world) and a hit onscreen (in the Oprah Winfrey-produced, Emmy-winning TV movie version starring Jack Lemmon and Hank Azaria), and the first South African version, curiously staged 16 years before this one in the same theatre, was a successful production starring Graham Hopkins and Asher Stoltz.
Clever casting in this new version sees father and son duo Michael Richard and Jeremy Richard star as Morrie and Mitch respectively. Both superb actors with deep, resonant voices, they bring plenty of acting chops to roles refined and shaped by director Alan Swerdlow (who also helmed the 2010 production). For audiences who know that the men are related, there is unavoidably an added layer of tenderness and substance, but neither needs that established relationship to make the one being built on stage feel more realistic, as the character arcs for both Morrie and Mitch make them richly appealing – and relatable – to anyone watching.
Whichever association means most to you – teacher-student; mentor-mentee; father-son – the play is lavish in its offering (mostly from Morrie to Mitch) of advice that makes life, if not easier, then more substantial. Mitch moves from wide-eyed, enthusiastic youngster to a (relatively) selfish professional to a mature man with a greater understanding of what really matters – an inestimable gift, but one that requires so work to assimilate.
The play is gently paced, allowing for the pauses in important conversations that are almost as vital as the words. Jeremy Richards effortlessly combines his duties as narrator and protagonist and Michael Richards moves from amusing mischief to sober gravitas without skipping a beat.
It’s easy to be drawn in as you would be listening to any worthwhile, if conventional, conversation, but clever threads that dip in and out of the narrative add extra interest and a clever set design by Wilhelm Disbergen – unfinished walls and a mosaic suggesting a student and a teacher – underlines that even as something decays, it can offer security and insight.
Everything about the piece is gently persuasive, and you will leave with a refreshed appreciation of the value of spending time with – and really engaging with – people of consequence.