“The Gin Game” Uses Cards as a Metaphor for Life

This charming hidden gem walks the fine line between light-hearted humor and the weight of aging, the push and pull of repetition and theatrical excitement, and the thought-provoking metaphor of life as a card game, captured in an absurd and escalating card-table quarrel.

6/9/20254 min read

Read on Petrichor

By Mingsi Ma

Directed by Joe Eberle, playwright D.L. Coburn’s 1978 Pulitzer Prize for Drama-winning play The Gin Game revives at the South Park Theatre from May 28 to June 14. This charming hidden gem walks the fine line between light-hearted humor and the weight of aging, the push and pull of repetition and theatrical excitement, and the thought-provoking metaphor of life as a card game, captured in an absurd and escalating card-table quarrel.

On the back porch of the nursing home, new residents Weller and Fonsia, played by Mark Yochum and Marianne Shaffer, get to know one another by playing gin rummy. The porch feels especially quiet compared to the lively interior of the nursing home, which is often filled with music, dance, and entertainment. Neither Weller nor Fonsia openly admits to feeling lonely, but the absence of friends or family on visitor’s day quietly speaks volumes.

I lost track of how many times the card deck was shuffled and distributed between Weller and Fonsia throughout the play. “One, one, two, two, three, three…” The voice of Weller counting the cards for each other stuck in my mind. The full play unfolds through their ongoing games, as Weller cynically and hilariously roasts other residents, complains that “adults talk to [him] like a child,” and rages over not winning a single game, all while Fonsia has outrageous luck and keeps calling “gin” one after another.

Thanks to the performances of Yochum and Shaffer, along with Eberle’s deft direction, the play has the right tempo and energy to keep the audience engaged. Despite the repeating, rounds after rounds of gin, the performance stays sharp and smoothly advances the story like a well-strategized card game, with each move circling back with greater theatrical tension and meaning.

I had so many good laughs at the theater. Yochum gives such an amazing performance. Whenever Weller draws a bad hand, the exaggerated frustration on his face and his clumsy body language never fail to make the audience laugh. His over-the-top non-verbal expressions turn a harmless little card game into a reckless outburst, reminding me of Mr. Bean’s physical comedy, especially when he licks his finger to flip the cards or leans back and raises eyebrows in frustration when upset by them. Yochum does a great job navigating anger and humor on stage. It would have been harsh to watch if it were all about slashing the anger onto the audience’s face, or too focused on making jokes and losing the momentum that advances the play through the repeated games.

The two main characters, Weller and Fonsia sitting on the back porch of the nursing home.

In spite of all the laughter, The Gin Game, at its core, is a tragedy under the disguise of a comedy. As I reflect on Weller’s lines after the performance at face value, I pause, realizing they aren’t all that funny if it’s not because of Yochum and Shaffer’s performance. For example, audiences laugh at Weller’s sarcastic comments on Fonsia’s interests in the dance lessons at the nursing home (“Dance lessons in a place where half the people can’t even get out of a chair?”). Yet, Weller soon reveals to Fonsia that he has issues with his knees that prevent him from dancing. As Weller and Fonsia age, they have to deal with medical problems, living on welfare, and loneliness at the nursing home.

Round after round of gin rummy, Weller gets more and more frustrated with his bad hands, with his face turning red and twisted, and his cursing erupts like gunfire. The growing conflicts between Yochum and Shaffer at the card table excites me about where the plot might go. However, the abrupt ending of the play caught me off guard, in sharp contrast to the repeating yet meticulously well-paced argument over cards. To my initial disappointment, the plot doesn’t really go anywhere.

There is no resolution; the play simply ends.

Nonetheless, in hindsight, Weller’s obsessive insistence that the two keep playing, along with the unresolved ending, may be exactly what makes the play so disturbingly thought-provoking. I find myself continuously pondering after the performance: What is the equivalent of the endless gin game in our lives? Is it addiction to bad habits? Chronic destructive financial decisions, or anything we struggle with as we navigate life while carrying past trauma? Perhaps the true brilliance of The Gin Game lies in the unease that comes with the sudden ending and the lack of story development, which traps us in the obsessive repetition of the card games or patterns of life.

Given the perfectly handled balance between repetition and theatrical excitement that playwright D.L. Coburn has achieved, I truly believe he could easily have added more development if he wanted to. But his choice not to make The Gin Game a classic. The open ending offers a space to imagine what might come next between Weller and Fonsia. Still, in that ambiguity, I find not just despair, but a surprising glimpse of hope in the relentless cycles.

The Gin Game is part of South Park Theatre’s 2025 Mainstage Season, running from Thursday, May 29 to Saturday, June 14. Please visit South Park Theatre for more information.