Review: ?Nickel and Dimed? points fingers, all right — at us

Can a college-educated, middle-class professional survive the life of a low-wage worker in this nation?s new service economy? That?s what writer Barbara Ehrenreich tried to find out in an ?undercover? magazine assignment that led to her best-selling book, ?Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America.?

Can a predominately middle-class theater audience understand not only the reality of low-wage work, but also their own complicity in the exploitation that takes place? That?s what the Guthrie Lab tries to find out in its production of ?Nickel and Dimed,? a stage adaptation of Ehrenreich?s book.

?Nickel and Dimed? runs through Aug. 31 at the Guthrie Lab Theater, 700 N. First St., Minneapolis. Tickets are $22 to $30. For information, call 612-377-2224, or go to www.guthrietheater.org

Both the play and the book chronicle Ehrenreich?s experiences in a series of service-sector jobs ? waitress and hotel maid in Florida, home cleaning and nursing home worker in Maine, retail clerk in Minneapolis. We watch ?Barb? struggle to learn the tricks of the trade, struggle to keep a roof over her head on wages of less than $7 an hour, struggle with the realization that she really doesn?t know anything about what?s really necessary to make it when the paycheck doesn?t stretch from one week to the next.

Speaking to the audience, literally
Robynn Rodriguez plays Ehrenreich?s role, energetically and effectively combining book knowledge and a sarcastic flippancy with the roller coaster of amazement and frustrations that build as her eyes open, her comfortable self-confidence slips away, and she deals with the small and large obstacles that greet her on the job every day.

Playwright Joan Holden and director Bill Rauch break the fourth wall frequently, as Rodriguez ping-pongs back and forth between ?Barb? the worker and ?Barbara? the writer, who addresses the audience directly with both narration and snide and solemn observations.

This tactic allows for plenty of humor at the same time it reinforces one of the main themes ? that Barbara always will be an outsider in her co-workers? lives. As the shoes she wears indicate, she?s never really one of them, but merely an observer who drops in, then gets out when the going gets too rough.

Robynn Rodriguez as Barbara in the Guthrie Lab production of "Nickel and Dimed."

Photo by Michal Daniel

In your face or under your skin?
The tactic has its drawbacks, though. It frequently interrupts true narrative flow and often shoves the script?s messages right in the audience?s face, rather than letting those lessons seep under the skin, where they might actually stay and itch for a while.

It also makes it difficult for the five other cast members to develop any depth to the cavalcade of characters they play, or for the cast to develop the convincing banter and begrudging tolerance you?d expect in groups of co-workers.

The rapid vignettes play too often like brief comedy sketches, with characters little more than shallow cutouts ? just like the props in the restaurant scenes. This is especially true of the male roles. Christopher Liam Moore fills most of them; he changes costumes and accents, but hasn?t figured out how to much differentiate one opportunistic man from the other.

The opening story ? at a ?Kenny?s? restaurant in Florida ? is the most powerful in getting Ehrenreich?s points across, especially as the short-staffed crew does its best amid the chaos that unravels when a tour bus arrives. Peggy O?Connell is particularly engaging as Gail, a veteran waitress with poor taste in men and perms, who tries to take Barb under her wing.

Isabell Monk O?Connor is the most consistent in the ensemble. Physically and emotionally, she breathes substance and believability into Phillip the restaurant manager, Carlie the motel housekeeper, and Melissa, the lost, lonely ?Mall-Mart? associate who tries to befriend Barb.

One insult after another
One of the great accomplishments of Ehrenreich?s book is how all the little insults and indecencies of wage work slowly pile up, like so many dishes on Barb?s serving tray, becoming a teetering burden that keeps any worker from ever gaining balance. An open-minded reader endures some of the same load and comes away from Ehrenreich?s book vowing never to look at ?invisible? workers the same way again ? indeed, to actually look at them as people whose story we may never know.

The stage play rarely achieves that same effect. Yes, the insults and indecencies (and their physical and mental toll) are all on display ? the suck-up managers, the insufferable customers and colleagues, the requests to work off the clock, the drug tests, the token pay raises, the company picnics and other ?rewards,? the lack of health insurance and any real benefits, the constant surveillance and psychological testing, understaffing, paychecks held back a week, the insane work rules, the vague promises of promotions, and on and on.

And, yes, many of the larger social issues are at least touched upon ? the chicken-and-egg struggle to save enough to place a deposit on a decent apartment, the constant worrying about children (whether at home, long gone, or yet to be born), the overwhelmed emergency shelters and food shelves, the heartless corporate business models based on efficiency and numbers. But on stage, the dishes don?t pile up; they?re simply put on display, then quickly whisked away, like a dessert cart.

The script demonstrates the abuses workers endure, the loyalty they nonetheless display toward each other and even to their managers, and offers truthful explanations as to why they put up with it all in the first place. It?s more than disappointing, however, that the script essentially ignores the existence of labor unions, and expunges the key role the discussion of unions played in Ehrenreich?s book.

Feeling guilty?
That doesn?t mean the staging of ?Nickel and Dimed? can?t be effective. The play never lets the audience off the hook. At several points, it directly challenges audience members to examine their own consumer behavior. It even asks whether they?re willing to pay higher prices so workers get higher wages (Let?s not argue, for now, whether that?s a valid supposition.)

The script bluntly points out that society eagerly strips away government ?entitlement? programs for the poor, no longer seems willing to guarantee that working mothers make a living wage, but isn?t about to strip the middle class? biggest entitlement program: the income-tax deduction for mortgage interest.

The play also argues Ehrenreich?s point that the middle and upper classes (and, face it, many union members are now among those elite) benefit directly from the sacrifices low-wage workers make every day. Low-wage workers are the nation?s biggest philanthropists, Barbara argues toward the end of the play. But when the script makes a similar point earlier, as Barb goes off on a proletariat rant, the audience laughs ? nervously, perhaps, but laughs nonetheless.

Which begs the question, will we ever get it?

Adapted from The Union Advocate, the official newspaper of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. E-mail The Advocate at: advocate@mtn.org

The Guthrie also has a study guide concerning low-wage work and other issues raised by ?Nickel and Dimed.? Visit the Guthrie web site at www.guthrietheater.org/act_III/studyguide and click on the ?Nickel and Dimed? link.

Comments are closed.