ALMOST  HOME  at  the Acorn Theatre

(Seen  September 28, 2014)


Walter Anderson has created a play examining another dysfunctional family in the Bronx.  The time is 1965, and the young son has returned home from the war.  A marine hero,  he is plagued by the memory of not being able to save his wounded and dying best friend.

He is a young man who has risen above his early misdeeds and environment to achieve success in the Marines.  His plans to attend college are thwarted by his feeling responsible to pay off the debts of his often-drunken and abusive father.  His father has a shady background, and has relied on a police captain in the local precinct to keep him out of jail.

One of the play's many problems is that the mostly realistic situations often border on caricature, and strains our credulity.   The scenes are erratic and somewhat predictable.   But most distracting in this family melodrama, is that the play stops, rather than ending.  The resolution is left to the audience's conjecture.