In 'Ham Lake,' a Narcissist Stuck in Adolescence, Whether He Wants It or Not

By GEORGE HUNKA
Published: May 31, 2006

If you've ever found yourself cornered by a talkative narcissist in a bar, "Ham Lake," a seriocomic monologue by Nat Bennett and Sam Rosen, will be distressingly familiar: a young man raking over his childhood and most recent romantic disaster as he nurses a beer.
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Fortunately, though, Mr. Bennett and Mr. Rosen find a haunting pattern of yearning and denial in the threads of this nameless narrator's 80-minute monologue, tautly performed by Mr. Rosen and imaginatively directed by Ian Morgan (though, given the claustrophobic stage of the SoHo Playhouse's Huron Club, choreographed is more appropriate). The show is produced by the actor Josh Hartnett, Jefferson Bjoraker and Paddy Mulloy.

Having been abandoned by his girlfriend in Ham Lake, a small Minnesota town, the 20-something narrator recounts the history of his relationships with Tanya, a single mother who is a waitress at a topless bar; Ed, his older and more mature brother; and his father, divorced from the narrator's mother and addicted to collecting unfunny dirty jokes. As the monologue bounces back and forth in time, the narrator reveals his stunted emotional development, that he is seemingly stuck forever in adolescence.

Unable to step into adulthood with his brother, the narrator circles endlessly around his suspicion that he remains a child, unable to take responsibility for his own life or anyone else's. In doing so he proves an amusing raconteur, but by the end of the play he also stands revealed as a coward, flawed but unworthy of pity because of his self-imposed immaturity: Peter Pan's bitter doppelgänger.

The gangly Mr. Rosen moves precisely around the small playing space, occasionally stepping toward the audience to deliver an intimate observation, and it is a telling quality of the script and his performance that these moments never seem forced or self-conscious. Unlike most talkative narcissists, Mr. Rosen knows when his listeners will concede intimacy and when they'll withhold it. There are plenty of bars in SoHo and plenty of talkative narcissists, but it's unlikely you'll find in any of them a monologue as evocative as "Ham Lake."

"Ham Lake" continues through June 24 at the SoHo Playhouse, 15 Vandam Street, near Avenue of the Americas;(212) 691-1555 orsohoplayhouse.com.

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