Part 2: "The Reeve of Steel"

In a late May rehearsal for The Tempest at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, director Roger Rees found himself in a dreadful position.  “I was blocked,” Rees relates.  “That Massachusetts summer had already hit and we were sweating like Minute Men.  My Miranda didn’t know her lines.  Caliban was hungover.  And we opened in rep in less than a week.  Most of all, no one seemed to be getting the play, and I just couldn’t find a way in.”

As Rees sat in the empty auditorium, kneading his hands in exasperation, he found himself suddenly greeted by a mysterious voice.  “It came from the row behind me.  The voice was stiff, mechanical, and yet oddly very comforting.  It said, ‘Don’t worry, Roger.  Why don’t I lend a hand?’”  A heavy, metallic palm then clamped down reassuringly on the director’s shoulder.


The Reeve of Steel seen just after foiling a Williamstown bank robbery.
Emerging from the seats with an industrial clang, a strange, shining figure took the stage.  “He was clad entirely in steel armor, like something out of Chaucer,” Rees continues.  “But with each step you could hear the pumping of hydraulic pistons and the grinding of complicated gears.  I initially assumed he was some sort of clockwork golem, what you Yanks might call a ‘robot’ or ‘droid.’”  Rees pauses now in his story, drawing a deep breath.  “Then he turned and looked me in the eye, and at once, beyond the shadow of a doubt, I knew it was Chris Reeve.”1

When asked how the deceased Reeve could possibly have returned in the form of chrome-plated bionic man, the director merely shrugged.  “I don’t know.  Technology?  Look, I’m just a humble thespian.  That sort of elaborate engineering is beyond me.  But I will say that, when we were both starting out on Broadway, I had the pleasure of watching Chris perform Lanford Wilson’s Fifth of July.  The man had a rare and distinct gift.  I’ve never seen it matched, that is until I watched this scene-stealing Iron Man work with those young Williamstown actors.”2

The tank-like Shakespearean, whom the cast and crew of the Williamstown festival have since dubbed “The Reeve of Steel,” proceeded to inspire the actors by assuming their roles one by one.  “He had all the monologues memorized already,” explains Meredith Nelson, who plays The Tempest’s Ariel.  “First he did Prospero, but he put on this killer John Wayne impression for it.  And then he delivered a bunch of lines of Ferdinand’s, but in this hysterical Elmer Fudd voice.  It really made you think!”3


The Reeve of Steel and Roger Rees talk through a scene in The Tempest.
The Reeve of Steel has been a near constant presence at the festival since his initial mid-rehearsal appearance.  In addition to frequently stepping in as an acting coach, Reeve of Steel has proved a matchless help backstage, easily manipulating bulky set pieces with his girder-like arms.4

The Reeve of Steel has also been spotted regularly around the community of Williamstown, helping elderly townspeople across busy intersections, retrieving cats from trees, and entertaining picnickers with his lively mime routines.  He is also credited with extinguishing three building fires and stopping an armed bank robbery.

“When I asked him who he was,” explains bankteller Marcus Gregg, “he just told me, ‘A friend.’”5

Eight year-old Marissa Park, who encountered The Reeve of Steel when he stopped to repair her bicycle’s busted tire, questioned the hulking Good Samaritan more forcefully.  “I told him, ‘My daddy says you’re Christopher Reeve, returned.’  He smiled and shook his head.  He said that Christopher Reeve helped him out, a long time ago, and that he was just doing what he could to live up to his good work.”6

Who could The Reeve of Steel really be?  In an editorial in American Theatre Magazine, noted critic Ben Brantley theorized, “We must avoid the melodramatic impulse to look for the man behind the curtain.  The answer lies in the elaborate mechanism itself.  Who would have the ambition and puppetry knowledge to pull off such a stunt?  Obviously a gender-bending Julie Taymor.”7  Technology critic Bill Thompson, on the BBC’s Radio 5, was skeptical that “ROS” could be an artist at all.  “Surely what we’re looking for is a genius engineer.  My money’s on Stephen Dubowsky, who runs the space robotics lab at MIT.  But I’ll give you long odds on Peter Weller.”8


Actor Robin Williams does not approve of The Reeve of Steel.

Despite his selfless contributions to the small Massachusetts community, The Reeve of Steel does have his detractors.  Comedian Robin Williams, in town to see the festival’s production of Flower Drum Song, was particular dismissive when asked about the armored do-gooder.  “Him again?  Look, Chris was my roommate at Juilliard, so believe me, I know the real thing,” Williams insisted, playing idly with a Neon Genesis Evangelion action figure as we interviewed him in his hotel room.  “This joker is not the real thing.  Chris’s passing marked a tremendous loss for all of us who cared about him.  Frankly, I think somebody imitating him is disrespectful.”  Noticing the sound of a jewelry store alarm across the street, Williams promptly excused himself, exiting through an open window.9

For more information regarding The Reeve of Steel, please see our Rumors page.

 

 

Sources:

1Simonson, Steven. “Tin Man Saves Williamstown.” Playbill, 10 June 2006.

2Cartwright, Amy.  “To Reeve, With Love.”  Stage Science, July 2006.

3Lacher, Terry.  “Scene Steeler.”  Dramatics Magazine, July 2006.

4Ibid.

5“Mechanical Reeve Making Mark in Mass.”  Associated Press.  3 June 2006.

6Yamamoto, Tetsuo. “The Good Steelmarian.” The New Yorker.  July 2006.

7“Mightus Androidicus.” ATM.  June 2006.

8Tech Check Live.  14 June 2006.

9Personal Interview with Team Atrox.  28 June 2006.

Introduction •Part 1: The Ereevicator • Part 3: Boy Reeve • Part 4: Cyborg Reeve • Rumors