Hero’s Journey Turned Upside Down: Mamet’s ‘Henry Johnson’ at Kinetic

In a sense, the new David Mamet play is as simple as a fable or a morality tale. Title character Henry Johnson—a mild-mannered, middle-aged, middle-manager type at a business firm—gets drawn into adventures that pull him perilously out of his normal everyday life. Henry sets off on a quest which, in a sense, resembles the classic “hero’s journey.” He faces ordeals that test his mettle. He finds a mentor, who shows him how to prevail. Armed with the mentor’s advice, Henry forges onward—but here’s the difference. Henry does not return home victorious. 

Not a chance. It turns out Henry’s troubles are largely self-inflicted. He should’ve seen that his seemingly noble quest was dubious from day one. The mentor he trusts is a madman. Henry keeps trying to do right, but goes wronger and wronger. By the shocking end of the tale, what we’re left with is a classic loser’s journey. 

The question is what to make of it. And that is not so simple. There’s more than one way to experience and interpret the play. You can choose several if you like. They might all be wrong, but take heart. You’ll still come away with a scorching, tragicomic, up-close look at life in the loser lane. And that’s a win! … Right? 

Toxic Empathy? 

Kinetic Theatre’s production of Henry Johnson (through July 26) offers a rare chance to see this new Mamet number before others do. It’s only the third staging overall, following the play’s L.A. premiere and a run in Chicago. So count your blessings, Pittsburgh theater fans, while you mull a possible interpretation. 

Kinetic’s promo material describes the play as posing the question “What is the price of compassion?” Which seems to fit what you’ll see onstage. Henry wades into dark waters, initially, by trying to help out an old acquaintance who’s been jailed for a grisly crime. In Mamet-speak, one would definitely say Henry is too fucking compassionate for his own good. This reading also seems to make the play relevant to current sociopolitics. 

Last year, as you may recall, prominent public figures in the United States launched a wide-scale “war on empathy.” Elon Musk called empathy “the fundamental weakness of Western civilization,” while evangelical leaders warned their followers against “the sin of empathy” and “toxic female empathy.” Anti-empathy crusaders say their core message is to not let emotions cloud judgment. 

In Henry Johnson, our un-hero commits an error of empathy. During the opening scene, in a tense meeting at Henry’s business firm, we learn that Henry (played by John Steffenauer) has pulled some strings to help his old, imprisoned chum get free on parole. Then we learn that in doing so, Henry went too far, trespassing a law that spells out certain things thou shalt not do.  So Henry himself lands in prison, where his odyssey goes even farther off course. He starts drifting into a problematic relationship with a toxic female empathist, the prison’s psychological counselor (not seen onstage). And he’s harangued by his cellmate, Gene, a hardcore cellie who sports macho tattoos and spouts loco ideas about how to survive in prison, life, or wherever. 

As played by David Whalen, Gene is mean and mesmerizing. His machine-gun chatter never runs out of ammo. His philosophy is abominable. (At one point, Gene retells the Sleeping Beauty story. In his version, the prince who wakes the princess from her spell is the same guy who put her under in the first place. Then after a while “he comes back to see if she learned her lesson.”) And alas, Henry—swayed once again by his empathic tendency to give in to the people around him—falls under Gene’s malevolent spell. Which leads to a very bad ending indeed. 

Lately the playwright is known for more than his plays. David Mamet’s been busy telling the world why his political views have taken a hard right turn. Therefore one might be tempted to interpret Henry Johson through that political lens: Here’s Mamet showing us how dangerous empathy really is. 

But it’s more complicated than that. 

Boundary Issues

Any good therapist or personal-growth guru will tell you it’s important to set boundaries in your life. You must define what you’re willing to tolerate from people, and are willing to do for them—so much, and no more. Seen through that lens, Henry’s got a boundary problem. He also may have a self-esteem issue, which makes him too eager to seek approval from others. Or perhaps too eager to be like others. Throughout the play we get signs that mild-mannered Henry secretly admires the bad-boy dudes he’s fallen in with. (Explaining why he took an interest in the old chum, despite the man’s track record as a scoundrel, Henry says, “I felt like he had something that I was drawn to.”) So whether you consider Henry a people-pleaser, or a wannabe, or just plain naive, all this makes him a target for transgressive people—the kind who will barge right through your boundaries if you give them an opening. 

The Manosphere

Seen through yet another lens, Henry Johnson comes straight from the manosphere. Mamet has been inhabiting and writing about that subculture since long before the term was invented. His new play oozes manliness from all its pores. All except for Henry Johnson’s, that is. He’s the non-macho outlier. His name is an inversion of John Henry, the mythical folk hero; the big, strong railroad worker who’s faster than anyone at driving spikes into the track with a sledgehammer. According to the legend, John Henry competes in a steel-drivin’ contest against a newfangled machine, and John Henry defeats the machine. Henry Johnson is defeated by the machine—the machine of the predatory society around him.

Which leaves one more possible angle to be explored. 

Is It Autobiography?  (Or Just Good Theater?)

There’s a parallel universe in which this reviewer sees the Henry Johnson character as a stand-in for the author. David Mamet writes plenty about hard-driving men—but did he grow up hardscrabble? (Hint: no, he didn’t.) Or did he wish to become that way? Does he feel like he’s been a wannabe all along? Mamet is now in late life, at the age of 78, and I think we have to take seriously the notion that at this stage, some retrospection might be showing up in his work. 

It’s possible, too, that Mamet might feel just a wee bit misunderstood. Sort of like Henry Johnson. A guy in a hardscrabble world who nonetheless is sensitive at heart—a true artist, after all—who sees and recognizes the dangers of macho madness (recall that Mamet has made the pitfalls perfectly clear in many of his plays and films)—and who despite this knowledge, finds himself drawn to that world. Which led him to write a play about the ambiguities he feels. 

Choose any of the interpretations I’ve mentioned or make up your own. Whatever the case, Henry Johnson is a sizzler worth seeing. Along with the actors playing Henry and Mean Gene, Cotter Smith contributes an excellent turn in the play’s opening, as the office executive giving Henry one hell of a performance review. And later on, actor David Butler bookends the play in his memorable role as the prison librarian. In a chaotic closing scene, he pretty much throws the book at Henry. Reads him the riot act. Curtain, lights out. 

Closing Credits & Ticket Info

Mamet’s Henry Johnson is directed for Kinetic Theatre by Andrew Paul, the company’s producing artistic director. Through July 26 at Carnegie Stage, 25 W. Main St., Carnegie. Visit Kinetic on the web for tickets and further information. 

Scenic design is by Johnmichael Bohach, lighting by Andrew Ostrowski, and sound by Mark Whitehead. Costumes are by Kimberly Brown and props by Rachel Ferrari Engel. James Dworek is technical director, and the stage manager is Caroline Yacono. 

Photos by Rocky Raco.

Mike Vargo, an independent writer based in Pittsburgh, writes about theater and the visual arts for Entertainment Central.

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