Papa: The Life and Loves of Ernest Hemingway

Veteran actor Jordan Rhodes, who has appeared in guest roles on many TV series, co-wrote and stars in this biographical play about writer Ernest Hemingway, filmed before a live audience at the Odell Williamson Performing Arts Center at Brunswick Community College in Bolivia, NC. Set on July 2, 1961, the day of Hemingway’s suicide, the two-act piece is structured by Rhodes and his colleague Ken Vose as a memory-trip monologue covering the major episodes and relationships in Hemingway’s life. The sole interruptions in what basically amounts to a one-person play are brief appearances by the various women who Hemingway dallied with or married, all played by Lynn Moore. As is often the case in this kind of play, the writing can feel contrived, with lots of name-dropping and conveniently-remembered anecdotes, but to its credit the script does capture the major elements of Hemingway’s personality—his gruff machismo, raunchy sense of humor, egotism, and brooding over the decline of his health and what he perceives as a loss in his creative abilities as a result of medical treatment. Rhodes, who also directed the film (following the lead of the late Michael Sapp, who did the original stage version), vividly embodies the character, and this will likely appeal to Hemingway aficionados. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)