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CurtainUp The Internet Theater Magazine of Reviews, Features,
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A CurtainUp Berkshire Review
And No More Shall We Part
It is through a series of alternating scenes between past and present that we come to understand this opening scene. Pam is terminally ill and has decided not only to stop treatment but to end her life on her terms. Don is in despair. And No More Shall We Part by Australian playwright Tom Holloway is a bare bones emotional journey through the process of unassisted suicide. This is not a play for the faint-hearted, yet it is a play that confronts difficult choices head-on and explores human fragility. Director Anne Kaufmann, along with award-winning actors Alfred Molina and Jane Kaczmarek, manages to rein in sentimentality . She allows the actors to present their points of view avoiding the maudlin and emphasizing the universality of their predicament. How to leave? How to let go? For Pam, it is a matter of sparing her survivors and herself pain, expense and a gradual disintegration. Don feels excluded from any decision-making. Molina expresses disbelief, anger and childlike anguish as he rollercoasters in response to her decision. The heartbreak of his "What am I going to do?" reverberates through the audience with a recognizable expression of empathetic sighs. For it is too soon and he cannot get his mind around Pam's matter-of-fact practicality. Don struggles. He cannot accept her thinking. There must be another way. Pam is maddeningly pragmatic and methodical which makes a later scene of anguish between them the more heartbreaking. Ms. Kaczmarek avoids self-pity and her Pam is fierce in her desire to protect her family from the ramifications of her death. Though Don rages and blusters with every argument he can conceive, including Catholic literature and questions of legality, Pam steels herself and acts at times as if preparing for a vacation. Amidst the domestic mundanity of radio programs, barking dogs, crossword puzzles and chirping crickets a momentous decision is hotly debated. A discussion about euthanasia, though not pedantic, is being acted out for the audience's enlightenment. The spare, flexible scenic design by Rachel Hauck, with costumes by Emily Rebholz, lighting by Matt Frey and sound by Brandon Wolcott underscore the feel of reality. We know this couple! These are average, everyday people with a long marriage, two children and modest home, facing the question of death and dignity. Kaczmarek and Molina's painful performances speak volumes through the silences and pauses of the play. Though Pam is the one dying, it is Don's palpable grief at the loss of everything he has known and depended upon that is gut-wrenching. We can only guess at how they have arrived at this moment; perhaps that is the strength of the play. The disease or length of it is never mentioned. The two never seen children are not allowed to weigh in on Pam's decision. The backstory is incomplete. Their narrative is reduced to an intense conversation that will certainly leave the audience emotionally bereft, wrung out and thoughtful. This play explores the consequences of, "To Be or Not To Be," and is not afraid to confront mortality. The dramatic fallout of And No More Shall We Part resonates long after the play ends. |
Search CurtainUp in the box below PRODUCTION NOTES And No More Shall We Part by Tom Holloway Directed by Anne Kauffman Cast: Jane Kaczmarek (Pam) Alfred Molina (Don) Scenic Designer: Rachel Hauck Lighting Designer: Matt Frey Costume Designer: Emily Rebholz sound by Brandon Wolcott Stage Manager: Vanessa Coakley Running Time: 70 minutes, no intermission Williamstown Theatre Festival, Williamstown, MA; Previews 8/10-13/16; opening 8/14/16; closing 8/21/16. Reviewed by Gloria Miller at August 13 performance REVIEW FEEDBACK Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
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