Goodbye to All That
2nd Story's compelling 'Becky Shaw'
The set for 2nd story's production of 'Becky Shaw' comprises four pieces of furniture: two massive ivory micro suede chairs and their matching footrests. They're blocky, mundane and unmistakably American, and in a sane universe there would be no need to comment on them at all. But in director Ed Shea's universe, and in the world he's built around Gina Gionfriddo's crazy, funny, dark comedy, these suburban artifacts somehow emerge as numinous. Dont ask how it happens; it just does. In the dimmed lighting between scenes, stagehands glide the four pieces into new configurations, creating a hotel room, a studio apartment, a café, an upper-crust Virginia home. These interludes occur frequently and are so well choreographed that they can be a bit distracting. But Shea's balletic scene-changes also mirror, in an odd way, a question that sits at the heart of this play in which old loves, cherished fictions and bitterly defended philosophies are the heavy stuff that people just keep shuffling around in their lives. Scenes and conversations may shift, but subtexts - old loves, old narratives, old unfinished business threaten to remain the same forever. The question is: what would it take to force a change? And, what would it look like to stop all the shuffling and introduce something new to the setting?
At 2nd Story, it looks like a six-foot Venus in a sequined party dress. Or, rather than Venus, let's say Pandora. Hillary Parker plays Becky Shaw, the blind date from hell who unleashes the forces of chaos necessary to push the play's main characters, Max and Suzanna, out of their long-term sexual dither. When the play begins, we find the two in a hotel room together in the hours after a memorial service for Suzanna's father. They seem quite a complementary pair. Suzanna is a rich, sheltered Daddy's girl, and Max is a high-powered money manager with a brutal wit and a cash flow capable of keeping Suzanna in good clothes. But there's more to these two characters than just grab and flash. Rachel Morris shows us that the death of Suzanna's father has left her genuinely lost, not just whiny, and Ara Boghigian layers tenderness in with Max's exasperated efforts to convince her to get on with her life.
Together, Morris and Boghigian provide us with satisfying glimpses into the depths of the couple's shared history and affection, but here's the thing: they aren't a couple. Max is technically Suzanna's brother, having been adopted by her parents when the two were kids. This fact both tethers the characters and holds them apart, and their perpetual, irresolvable orbiting of one another is what creates the plays binding tension. In terms of confusions and taboos, it could be the material of a Shakespeare play.
Max and Suzanna do consummate their long-deferred attraction, but the next time we see them together (some months later, in a scene set in Providence) Suzanna has married Andy (Tim White) a feckless, penniless scribbler from Brown whom she appears to have chosen on the basis of his complete lack of resemblance to Max and the newlyweds have invited Max to their apartment to meet Becky. Suzanna has moved on, apparently, and is sparing no pain in proving it. But the ditzy, girlish, damaged Becky is obviously a god-awful match for Max, and Andy is such a lightweight that we keep looking for the moment when, as in that aforementioned Shakespeare comedy, the right pair of lovers will finally be reunited.
Shea plays on our expectations, keeping us guessing as Suzanna struggles to keep her marriage, and Max confidently prowls its perimeters. Under his direction, Andy and Becky, who begin as broad character types, bloom bit by bit into dimension. Parker, in particular, makes an impression here. Rather than playing her for laughs, she takes Becky seriously, employing an understated approach that focuses on her suppressed inner resources rather than her quirky clothes and manner of speech. This makes Becky truly alarming when she ascends into mania, and even more unsettling when, at the end, she regains a composure that seems to cow even the dauntless Max. Parker's measured performance makes us take Becky seriously too, and the production as a whole is both funnier and darker for her contribution.
Lastly, Paula Faber gives a bracing performance as Suzanna's mother - a woman whose struggle with MS has sharpened her frank intensity to the point of scariness without making her heroic. The role is small, but Faber gives Susan stunning depth. Yes, Susan is sick. Yes, she's getting worse. But, she is sure as hell not going gentle into that good night, and she's not letting anyone else off easy, either. Susan faces her illness, her financial ruin, the revelation of her late husband's homosexuality and her lover's crimes with the frozen wrath of a cobra confronted by a garden hose. Each of these affronts to her dignity, we sense, is just a shadow of the larger
enemy: her real rival is life itself in all its cruel perversity. It's not until the last moments of the play, shortly before the lights go down, that we begin to see the danger into which Max, as her protégé, is walking.
2nd Story Theatre presents 'Becky Shaw' by Gina Gionfriddo. January 21 - February 20th.
Thursdays at 7pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 3pm. Tickets: $27/regular
CONTACT:401.247.4200 or Email : boxoffice_2ndStoryTheatre.com
www.2ndStoryTheatre.com
