Paula Vogel’s newest work “Mother Play: a play in five evictions” confirms the theory that if American playwrights did not suffer childhood family dysfunction there would be no drama on our stages.
If you missed last year’s Broadway production that starred Jessica Lange, don’t worry you’ve certainly met the three characters in numerous other stage plays and films. It runs at Shakespeare & Company through October 5.
Indeed, at times the central character, Phyllis, seems a version of Amanda Winfield fifty years after she was introduced in Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie.”
Except Amanda was a much nicer person. She, at least, had the best of intentions for her son and daughter. Phyllis has no redeeming qualities.
The work is actually a companion piece to the writer’s other autobiographical work, “The Baltimore Waltz,” produced in 1990. The earlier work was written shortly after Vogel’s brother, Carl, died of AIDs in 1988. No spoiler here, but in “Mother Play: ….” the son, also named Carl, dies of AIDS, after being rejected by his mother.
The play starts in 1964. The recently divorced, distant and cold Phyllis is in her mid-30s, Carl is 14, Martha 12. The nightly ritual was putting the mother to bed once Phyllis’ gin bottle was empty.
The family is struggling financially and are forced to live in a custodial basement apartment - which means that for reduced rent they have obligations such as taking out the weekly trash. How they handle the cockroaches is not in the contract.
About 40 years, and five apartments later (105 minutes in theater time), the play concludes as Martha visits Phyllis weekly in a nursing home. Phyllis has Alzheimer’s Disease and the cost of her care has depleted Carl’s life insurance and is costing Martha a lot of out of pocket money.
To me, the true tragedy of the play is Martha sacrificing to help an undeserving person. Were that daughter-parent sense of obligation explored more in “Mother Play: …” it might be a more universal piece of literature instead of another sad play about innocents marred by flawed parents.
Not everyone has dysfunctional parents, but most of us, at one time or another, has done kind things for bad people. Why?
Because of my admiration of Vogel, my guess is the decision to create characters without embellishing them is a decision by a playwright who trusts the actors and director to enrich her creations.
At Shakespeare & Company Eddie Shields best serves his character. Carl is a charming, witty, wise and caring human who understands his mother and adores his sister. Shields brings vitality to an otherwise morbid work.
Martha, a stand-in for the playwright, is the least developed person in a play filled with such characters. Zoya Martin is excellent as she is emotionally connected to both her brother and mother, yet maintains the distance needed when narrating a play about her own memories.
Less successful is Tamara Hickey in the crucial role of Phyllis. Disappointing is that with such a potentially rich character there is no uniqueness brought to the portrayal. Hickey is fine but being only functional is not good enough for such a complex woman.
The actor gets little help from director Ariel Bock. This is most obvious in the 10 to 15-minute silent scene known as “The Phyllis Ballet.” It is a potentially brilliant segment showing the woman’s nightly rituals of living physically and spiritually alone.
It’s a marvelous opportunity for actor and director to show the isolation, loneliness and inner world of the character. Instead, Hickey and Bock give the audience 15-minutes of a woman preparing and eating dinner.
The same sense of missed opportunities exists throughout the production. Shakespeare & Company merely offers a respectable production of a play that deserves better.
It runs through October 5. For tickets and schedule information go to shakespeare.org
Bob Goepfert is theater reviewer for the Troy Record.
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.
