A relic of the first gas crisis, The Water Engine is still eerily relevant today
By Dave Wielenga

The Water Engine seems especially relevant now, as we fret about environmental crises, soaring gasoline prices and the black-like-oil forces that create them. But that’s only because things have gotten so much worse since David Mamet wrote the two-act play in 1976, not long after the first Earth Day and a Middle East oil embargo that between May 1973 and June 1974 propelled gas from 38 cents to 55 cents per gallon. In fact, this story about an inventor’s struggle to market a motor that runs on water is set in 1934 Chicago, which ultimately makes it more—and less—than a prequel to Who Killed The Electric Car?

The sweeping implications of his water engine aren’t lost on inventor Charles Lang, who has devised it amid the Great Depression’s re-thinking of the United States’ democratic mission, during a World’s Fair that portrays science as the solution, even as World War II approaches. Neither is Lang unaware that he’ll face opposition from established economic interests threatened by his machine. It’s just that, well, he underestimates them a little. Okay, a lot.

But Lang’s social idealism is actually a by-product of his drive to exchange the difficult existence afforded by a 90-cents-an-hour factory job for the easy life of a very rich man—motivations not too different from those whose riches he is jeopardizing. Only near the end, when Lang realizes he has no chance to win, personally, does he truly consider others a little. Okay, a lot.

Cliff Threadgold portrays Lang with just the right mix of shuffling cluelessness and stand-his-ground principle, especially against the glib oratorical style of the era; the play is full of grand speechifying, from the ranting of soap-box revolutionaries in the public square to utopian pronouncements of World’s Fair tour guides to tales of great success and tragic death by those who do or don’t break chain letters. Meanwhile, Joe Arrigani is perfectly despicable as Lawrence Oberman, the big-business lawyer who steadily reveals the extent of his ruthlessness as Lang resists his wishes.

Those actors are abetted by an able ensemble cast—some playing two or three roles—and also by the austere environment of the 30-seat Garage Theatre, which conveys some of the bare-bones conditions of Depression life. A particularly nice device is a backlit screen that gives a sense of the public at large by casting actors’ silhouettes in the background.

In the end, The Water Engine reminds us that the forces confounding us today are universal and eternal, but also quite personal, and that they occur one day at a time.

Also on the bill is Mr. Happiness, a one-man, one-act play that features a ‘30s-era radio talk show who dispenses face-value truisms of the time as though they are deep wisdom. It would have worked better as an opening act.

THE WATER ENGINE AND MR. HAPPINESS | THE GARAGE THEATRE | 251 E SEVENTH ST | LONG BEACH 90813 | 562.433.8337 | THEGARAGETHEATRE.ORG | THURS-SAT 8PM | $12-20 | THROUGH MAY 19

Tags: Theater