By SHARON EBERSON
Barleby, the Scrivener, an 1853 novella by Herman Melville, has long been taking aim at Moby Dick as the most admired and interpreted of the author’s works, studied endlessly in literature classes and inspiring several movies.
The story of an enigmatic young man and his empathetic employer is still making waves: A full-cast production has been commissioned by San Diego’s The Old Globe, and Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège in Belgium is readying a 2026 Bartleby opera.
Closer to home, an adaptation written and performed by Sam Tsoutsouvas and directed by Andrew Paul for Kinetic Theatre, delivers a pitch-perfect solo retelling as Melville told it, from the perspective of the unnamed Narrator – a Wall Street lawyer who likes his lot in life just fine, until Bartleby walks through his doors.
Into the lawyer’s comfortable existence comes the most discomfiting of men, one who today might be diagnosed with debilitating depression or some form of PTSD.
Tsoutsouvas begins jovially, explaining that his character is perfectly content to have a position handling bonds and other financial paperwork for wealthy clients. For that purpose, he has three employees who are “useful to me,” each with eccentricities that would get them fired in most other circumstances. Tsoutsouvas plays all the roles with restraint, modulating slightly for Turkey, the eldest employee, who is disagreeable in the afternoons, while the younger Scrivener, Nippers, is useful only after lunch. The 12-year-old Ginger Nut, so nicknamed for his love of a certain candy, runs errands for the office.
Tsoutsouvas turns to these characters rarely, and only insomuch as they relate to his relationship with the confounding Bartleby.
He hires the new scrivener without vetting him, and is at first pleased with his work. But then, the pale, quiet young man begins to refuse even the simplest of tasks. When asked why, he invariably answers with the excruciatingly annoying phrase, “I prefer not to.” No other explanation is forthcoming.
The story then becomes about how the lawyer, who has always considered himself patient and generous, will cope with this intractable person who won’t work, and who will not leave.
It’s a dilemma that is reminiscent of much darker works by Poe, who was writing in the 1840s, and makes for a tour-de-force as a solo performance.
Tsoutsouvas mines both the humor of the situation and the humanity of a person who could not be blamed if he abandoned the man to his fate at any point in the story.
Bartleby, the Scrivener, as played by Tsoutsouvas, is one man’s perspective of a counterpoint to his own comfortable but solitary lifestyle, and what his responsibilities are toward one less fortunate.
The antagonist is portrayed as a singularly vexing individual, closed off and lonely. Tsoutsouvas shines as he argues with himself about how to handle the situation, patting himself on the back for remaining calm in the face of “I prefer no to” again and again, yet apologizing for his frustrated eruptions.
At first, in the performance at the welcoming Tomayko Foundation Art Gallery in Bloomfield, I was reminded of the novel and movie Being There by Jerzy Kosiński, and have since discovered I am not the first to make that comparison. But in Being There, the comedy derives from people projecting what they want to see on a person who is essentially a blank slate.
In trying to draw out Bartleby, the lawyer learns much about the state of the world outside the walls of his Wall Street office, and about his own capacity for empathy.
In a closely contained room with modern artworks, Tsoutsouvas’ only props for the 80+-minute show are a desk and a portable folding wall, representing Bartleby’s retreat within his employer’s office.
Within a small space, with chairs squeezed together for a full house on opening night, the solo artist created an atmosphere that allows an intimate tale to be writ large, with many lingering questions: How would one such as Bartleby fare in today’s world? And, perhaps most striking, what would you do if faced with someone so clearly in need of patience and understanding?
THE VENUE
Just steps away from the performance space, within the Tomayko Foundation’s modern building, is the Frank Mason Gallery, featuring works by the late Cleveland native who was fascinated by Renaissance-age paint and the technical approaches to application. Mason was a champion of a historically accurate approach to restoring masterworks.
TICKETS AND DETAILS
The salon-inspired adaptation of Bartleby, the Scrivener, is at the Tomayko Foundation Art Gallery, 5173 Liberty Avenue, Bloomfield, through October 12, 2025. Tickets: https://www.showclix.com/event/bartleby-the-scrivener-a-story-of-wall-street
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