I found two Cariani plays at the same time! Alphabetical sorting is a wondrous thing.

I’ve known about Last Gas for a long time, though nothing about the plot, and since I love Almost, Maine I was intrigued to see what Cariani would choose to focus on for a full-length plot.

It’s been two months since I read the play, and the frustration I felt upon first reading has mellowed, though I will still stake my claim on a potentially controversial opinion…

Like Almost, Maine we find ourselves about as far north as you can get without hitting Canada: at the last gas station (and convenience store) before the great timber fields of Northern Maine. The proprietor, Nat Paradis (who shares his name with the town,) is a slightly sad, mostly content individual who is about to have a birthday.

We see his struggles, how his son doesn’t respect him, his ex-wife (local law enforcement) needles him (presumably as a pre-text to stay close,) and his father is disappointed that his son seems to lack drive. Nat’s life isn’t bad per se, but it’s not one I’d want to have, and the only easy thing he’s got is the companionship of his buddy Guy, who got him tickets to a baseball game down in Boston.

Nat comes alive when he learns his high school girlfriend is back in town, and we quickly see their breakup as an odd junction in Nat’s life: everything seemed to go well, until he suddenly broke it off. With a second chance in sight Nat tries his best to make up for lost time and to make himself presentable to take her to a dance that night (even though it means blowing off Guy and the baseball game.)

Nat and the woman get drunk and spend the night together, but when it comes to follow-through Nat again falters. In the final act of the play we learn that Nat and Guy are both closeted, and have been seeing each other in secret and shame for decades. Nat, uncomfortable with that piece of himself, sought women out, but the relationships never felt right and soon disbanded.

While upon first reading I thought we didn’t necessarily need another story like this (or rather, that I wasn’t interested in it,) I’ve reevaluated the ending somewhat after talking with others and considering how the exposure is handled by each generation of characters: Nat’s son, the youngest character, is conflicted but ultimately proud that his dad can be who he is; Nat’s two ex-lovers are embarrassed, frustrated, and angry, but accepting of this aspect; while Nat’s dad (who still owns the store,) is furious and throws his son out and fires him. The balance of both generational opinion and the pain each character individually feels is well handled and is a good crystallization of a moment in time.

The aspect I still dislike though is Guy’s character, and it stems from a belief that worn tropes aren’t better simply for a swapping of formerly standard identity characteristics. The story from Guy’s perspective is that of an old friend holding a flame for someone who (presumably) sees them as just a friend, who eventually gets his shot as the old friend also realizes that they should be together.

If this story were told with Guy being a female character we would consider it uninteresting, predictable, and possibly even regressive. For me, the novelty of it being a gay character does not change the fundamental tiredness of this plot line (and while I didn’t think Nat was gay until later in the show, Guy’s fixation on Nat was obvious from early on, certainly before the end of act one.)

Outside of that storyline however, Last Gas is a humanely written, sedate look at life on the fringes of American life where things are always a little sad, a little hopeless, but ultimately OK.