‘I Need That’
Septuagenarian Sam (Danny DeVito), who hasn’t stepped outside of his home in close to three years, lives in a house in New Jersey packed with mementos from his past. From bottle caps of soda he sold as a boy to bingo chips from a church where he used to help out to a color television his father tried to assemble, not to mention books, board games, and magazines galore. Many of these items also come with a lengthy story, as he explains the remembrances they each hold. Sam’s audience consists of his daughter Amelia (Lucy DeVito, DeVito’s real-life daughter) and his long-time friend Foster (Ray Anthony Thomas).Amelia, however, has more pressing matters than her father’s reminisces. Sam’s lifelong packrat habits have gotten worse in recent years. Plus, his continual refusal to maintain his lawn or get rid of anything he owns has provoked the ire of one of his neighbors, who has complained to the authorities.
Sam’s decision to ignore the subsequent letters from the fire department has prompted an upcoming inspection of his home. After which, if deemed necessary, he can be forced to leave while his house is emptied of whatever is determined to be hazardous. Or they may simply condemn the property and start the process of having it torn down. Amelia is desperate to prevent either of these situations, but her pleas to her father continually fall on deaf ears. Sam refuses to deal with the issue and cannot bear to part with anything he has saved.
Sam may not yet be a full-blown hoarder, but he’s clearly headed in that direction. Along with a need to hold on to things he considers precious, his problem is one of denial. A major triggering point for Sam was the death of his wife due to complications from dementia and how he was forced to watch her slowly disappear into her own memories. Yet his issues go back even further. Sam often recalls his happy childhood and good relationships with his many siblings, despite Amelia remembering matters quite differently.
It doesn’t help that Foster is an enabler for Sam. He ignores the problem whenever he visits—which he does more often than Amelia—and also encourages Sam to tell his endless stories. All of this enabling, as we find out, hides an ulterior motive. Amelia, meanwhile, can do little more than gnash her teeth in frustration as Sam repeatedly undermines every attempt she makes to toss anything away.
A Hasty Conclusion
While Rebeck sets up her story nicely, the final third of the play is rather uneven and should have been further expanded. Sam’s eventual epiphany, when he finally realizes what his life has become, feels tacked on and too sudden to really ring true. It would have worked far better if we had seen him continue to struggle with his decisions instead of making the abrupt changes that he does.
Also, both Amelia and Foster have secrets of their own, none of which are given time to explore properly. While most make sense in connection to what has come before, they’re so last-minute, especially in the case of Amelia, that they’re simply glossed over.
There’s also a segment Rebeck adds about a fellow soldier Sam knew while serving as a file clerk during the Vietnam War that provides insight into Foster’s background and character, but that information takes things in a direction that doesn’t quite fit into the overall story.
DeVito gives an enjoyable performance as someone in classic denial. He offers up humorous responses with his verbal deflections, caustic comments, and obfuscations while he tries to put off the inevitability of his situation. While not nearly as developed a character, Lucy works well as Amelia, projecting the air of a long-suffering but loving daughter, along with an ever-increasing air of desperation as the play progresses. Thomas works well as Foster, who is an amiable sort but has some painful secrets of his own.
Alexander Dodge’s set of Sam’s home is nicely done. Direction by Moritz von Stuelpnagel is fine, if nothing special.
Though it often doesn’t delve as deeply into the subject as it should, “I Need That” offers an important story about the dangers of holding on too tightly to memories—in some cases, quite literally.
