Staged reading of classic crime novel attracts 200 to Burren
*

Playwright Bill Doncaster. - Photo by Andrew Phelps/WBUR

By George P. Hassett

Bill Doncaster was inspired to adapt the George V. Higgins novel “The Friends of Eddie Coyle” from the page to the stage, in part, by long-gone Davis Square dive bars.

“Higgins is one of the few writers who writes the way people in Somerville talk,” Doncaster said after a staged reading of his play attracted about 200 people to The Burren on Saturday. “It brought me back to places like the Venice Café and listening to the old timers tell stories.”

Doncaster, an MFA student in creative writing at Lesley University, said he picked up the 1970 novel after a co-worker “looked at me like I was an idiot” for saying he had never read the book or seen the movie. The realistic portrayal of local crime and speech immediately impressed him.

“Around page 8, I thought, yes, I want to do more than just read this,” he said.

Higgins’ novel is the grandfather of Boston crime dramas and centers around Eddie Coyle, a small time crook trying to stay out of jail by informing to police while also trying to remain in the good graces of his fellow hoods.

The play’s cast featured Paulo Branco as Coyle, Peter Darrigo as bank robber Jimmy Scalisi, and Rick Park as Dillon.

Saturday’s reading, performed on Higgins’ Nov. 13 birthdate, earned rave reviews from audience members, including Higgins’ widow and literary agent.

“George would have approved of every single line,” said Loretta Higgins after the performance. “The thrilling part is his dialogue is being used, his legacy is dialogue.”

Writers David Mamet and Elmore Leonard have cited Higgins’ dialogue as influential.

“[Doncaster] maximized the advantages of the stage in his adaptation,” said Albert LaFarge, Higgins’ literary agent. “This is a funny book and that humor bubbled up to the surface in the play.”

Converting a novel that takes hours to read to a play that can be performed in 90 minutes was one of the biggest challenges, Doncaster said.

“The hard part was finding what to cut. The people who know the novel and love it, love every freaking line,” he said. “I wanted to focus on Eddie Coyle and what’s driving him.”

A sub-plot involving a string of bank robberies and kidnappings was shortened and scenes in cars were rewritten to fit on stage.

“The dialogue I added was like masking tape. It’s a good story with good characters, I wanted to make it work in a new format and stay out of it.”