Sounds of Silents: The Essanay Years

Early in the silent-film era, Chicago was a major center for film production, with Essanay Studios leading the way. Between 1908 and 1917, the studio cranked out one- and two-reelers starring the likes of Wallace Beery, Gloria Swanson and, briefly, Charlie Chaplin. It’s a nifty bit of the city’s history. Then again, Chicago was also once known for its meatpacking industry, but that doesn’t mean we want to see a play about the backroom dealings of the Union Stock Yards. It takes careful work by a playwright to imbue historical fact with dramatic interest; Peditto has more work to do before Silents can lay this claim.

In a soup-to-nuts account of the ascent and descent of Essanay and its major players, so many numbers and anecdotes are thrown out that it sometimes seems the cast is reading from a trivia book. It would help if we knew who we were supposed to root for—money man George K. Spoor? Talent guy G.M. Anderson? Chaplin shows up after intermission and takes over the play, owing in equal measure to the enduring star power of the character and the magnetic performance of his portrayer, Anthony Tournis. The two women in the cast, Kirsten D’Aurelio as leading lady Beverly Bayne and Sarah Weis as teenaged Swanson, also stand out from their uneven peers. If Peditto were to tighten his focus and trim an hour or so, he could have a good play. In the meantime, he can write that trivia book.—Kris Vire