The Prisoner of 2nd Avenue at ACT II

By Neal Newman

September 2, 2022

Tony Braithwaite is a hilarious actor. Sabrina Profitt and director Tom Teti ably abet him. Neil Simon’s THE PRISONER OF SECOND AVENUE may not be a great play, but when The Act II playhouse has you thinking and laughing in the same breath, who can notice?

PRISONER is one of Simon’s “middle plays.”  He has gone beyond the earlier hits such as BAREFOOT IN THE PARK and THE ODD COUPLE, where characterization takes second place to some very funny wisecracks. But he still hasn’t found the humor/drama balance that will enhance later works like BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS and LOST IN YONKERS. The jokes keep coming, and the audience keeps laughing, but the characters in PRISONER seem richer and their problems more earnest.

Mel (Braithwaite) plays a middle-aged married New York executive who is constantly stressed by the constant drama of life in this city. During a recession, he loses his job, and soon every tiny disaster sends him into an (amusing) rage. His loyal wife (Profitt) does everything she can to assist the situation but to little avail. Mel is heading for a breakdown. 

Tony Braithwaite is especially admirable as he steers his way through the profound moments with memorable comic bits and lines. Sabrina Profitt skillfully suffers a complementary serio/comic breakdown. Their performance of the classic “robbery” scene is a textbook example of skilled timing, double takes, and delayed reactions. There is a scene where Mel is “sedated” by 1971-era drugs. My wife. an experienced area psychiatrist acknowledged that this performance was precisely accurate.

These two artists hold the stage for three-quarters of the play, but just when one thinks this is a two-character play, Simon, brings on the brother and sisters. These are an individualized and well-acted bunch (credit director Teti again) and returns the work to its humorous roots. Peter Bisgaier (so different from the father in Act II’s BRIGHTON BEACH), Linda Friday, Ellen Ratner, and Eleni Delopoulos get the kudos.

PRISONER is set in 1971, and just when you think this might be too distant in history to be topical, Simon shows a fine satiric hand that brings the themes into the present. Conservatives still complain that American cities are battlegrounds, and Mel believes that some sort of “deep state” is making him the victim of a conspiracy. 

The setting, costume, and lighting designers, Kevin Hoover, Teal Knight, and James Leitner, certainly enjoy recreating the strange world of 1971, which seems, seeing those sets and costumes, more distant than we thought it was.

Laughs and thoughts at the same time? Simon and ACT II pull it off. The production runs through September 25.

Running Time:  Two hours with one intermission. Masks are optional. For tickets visit act2.org or call 215-654-0200.