Anatomy of a Suicide

B

After an acclaimed run at the Royal Court and a Blackburn Prize, British playwright Alice Birch’s ambitious experimental play is now in previews at Atlantic Theater Company. Birch (Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again) certainly does not make things easy for the audience. There are three different scenes, each from a different time period, being performed simultaneously onstage. Occasionally scenes coalesce with the same dialogue occurring in all three. To further complicate things, five of the ten actors play multiple roles. In addition, two of the characters are played by more than one actor. The links between the characters in the simultaneous scenes only gradually become clear. I don’t want to give too much away here. The three leading characters, Carol (Carla Gugino; After the Fall, A Kid Like Jake), Anna (Celeste Arias; Uncle Vanya at Hunter) and Bonnie (Gabby Beans; Marys Seacole), all suffer from emotional problems. The author seems to be suggesting that depression and a tendency to attempt suicide can be inherited. While I certainly give her credit for ambition, I sometimes found it difficult to divide my attention three ways. Attempting to tell three stories involving 22 characters does not allow much time to develop a character in any depth. The fine cast also included Jason Babinsky (Network), Ava Briglia (School of Rock), Julian Elijah Martinez (Network), Jo Mei (The World of Extreme Happiness), Vince Nappo (The Jew of Malta), Miriam Silverman (Junk, A Delicate Ship) and Richard Topol (Indecent, Fish in the Dark). The sparse set by Mariana Sanchez (Marys Seacole) includes scattered plants and bushes of varying size that seemed a bit incongruous. Kaye Voyce’s (True West, After the Blast) costumes are a great help in creating the characters. Director Lileana Blain-Cruz (Red Speedo, The House That Will Not Stand) deserves much credit for making the multiple components run like clockwork. While I was initially fascinated by the play’s challenges, I was rarely moved. While I admired it, I didn’t find it truly satisfying. Running time: one hour 45 minutes, no intermission.

NOTE: Avoid seats in Row B at the Linda Gross Theater; there is no rise between Rows A and B.

A Kid Like Jake ***

(Please click on the title to see the complete review.)
As the recipient of the prestigious Laurents-Hatcher prize for 2013, Daniel Pearle's new play arrives at LCT3's Claire Tow Theater with expectations high. By and large, these expectations have been met and its worthiness for an award is clear. This tale of a Manhattan couple, probably Upper West Siders, struggling through the process of getting their only child into a prestigious private school has a twist: Little Jake, whom we never meet, is obsessed with Cinderella and likes to dress up like a girl. Jake's mom Alex (Carla Gugino), who abandoned a career in dance for the law and then for full-time motherhood, is still emotionally fragile after a recent miscarriage. Her husband Greg (Peter Grosz) is a laid-back psychotherapist. They are not sure whether Jake's predilection for "gender-variant" play, with which they seem mostly comfortable, is an obstacle to admission or, as their counselor/friend Judy (Caroline Aaron) suggests, a selling point for a school to achieve diversity. The application process with its essays, testing, visits, interviews and strategizing places their marriage under tremendous pressure that eventually opens fissures that release a painful outpouring of raw emotion. The three lead actors are superb and the buildup to their catharsis is gripping. I have qualms about the penultimate scene with Alex and a nurse (Michelle Beck), but my reaction to the play as a whole is overwhelmingly positive. Andromache Chalfant's flexible set serves well as several locales. Jessica Wegener Shay's costumes do not call attention to themselves. Evan Cabnet's direction is assured. Running time: one hour, 45 minutes, no intermission. Note: I am told that the entire run is sold out, but watch for a possible extension. Incidentally, LCT3's marketing plan finally seems to be paying off -- the audience had a substantially higher percentage of young people than usual.