With seemingly increasing frequency, Pershing Square Signature Center has been renting space to outside productions, including this unfortunately titled drama written by and starring Domenica Feraud. A “problem” play about an eating disorder, it would have fit more comfortably as a disease-of-the-week offering on the Lifetime channel. Debilitated by a severe case of anorexia, Rachel had to take a leave from her senior year at Yale to enter a residential treatment facility where she has spent the last four months. The action takes place during a trial weekend at her family home in Greenwich, CT which will determine whether she is ready to be discharged. Her svelte mother Joan (Florencia Lozano; Placebo, Privilege) is a second-generation Latin immigrant who is now a high-powered lawyer in a top law firm and the family’s main breadwinner. Her father Peter (Michael Hayden; The Lady from Dubuque, Cabaret) is a preppy, not very successful architect who has burned through a trust fund. Her younger brother Brody (Jake Ryan Lozano; Sweat) is a high school jock who tries to avoid his family as much as possible. Her caseworker Brenda (Portia; In Arabia We’d All Be Kings) has given Rachel’s parents strict instructions that Rachel must not be left alone during the weekend, a caveat that you can be sure will soon be ignored, with consequences that reveal deep rifts within the marriage and a secret about Joan. The depiction of Rachel's struggle with food is vivid and one feels for her. She has a brief nude moment justified by the plot. However, I was so drawn in by the toxic family dynamic that I wondered more about the future of the marriage than about Rachel. The production is lavish with a kitchen set by Brittany Vasta (Octet, Life Sucks) sure to evoke envy and excellent costumes by Nicole Slaven. Kate Hopkins’s (Cost of Living, After the Blast) direction is assured. With its topic and its infelicitous title, it is not an easy play to market, which probably explained the sparse audience. That’s a shame, because it has many absorbing moments and some fine acting, particularly by Florencia Lozano. Running time: 95 minutes, no intermission.
No comments:
Post a Comment