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A CurtainUp Review
When We Were Young and Unafraid
By Elyse Sommer
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"Why do you this?"— Mary Anne "What do you mean?" — Agnes "I'm a stranger to you."— Mary Anne, "Girls like you never had a chance. I'm not trying to work any miracles. I just think everyone deserves a chance." — Agnes |
Cherry Jones (Photo: Joan Marcus)
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This is her third play to take on subjects concerning the challenges of trying to satisfy sex, love and family needs as well as career ambitions. And as Skinner's The Village Bike had a high profile because it marked the stage debut of screen actress Greta Gerwig as sexually adventurous bicyclist, When We Were Young and Unafraid, has the ticket selling benefit of starring Cherry Jones, fresh from a powerhouse performance in Tennessee Williams's Glass Menagerie ( review ) is one of those actors who, if there were an official honor roll for actors people would pay to see if they were reading the telephone directory, would certainly be on it.
Fortunately, there's no need to test Jones's Telephone Directory reading credentials. Treem's script provides her with a meaty leading role as Agnes, the feisty proprietor of a Bed & Breakfast that's also a shelter for battered women.
To add to that good news, the triple-threat Treem (she wrote and produced the HBO series In Treatment as well as the wildly successful Netflix series House of Cards, and is currently working on The Affair, a show of her own for Showtime) has filled that B&B on an island of the coast of Seattle with four varied characters. All are perfectly cast to turn this look at three women and one man in the aftermath of the feminine revolution and the about to be passed Rowe vs. Wade decision into dramatic dynamite. Granted that they can be seen as mouthpieces for the issues explored, t the performances keep this from being a major flaw.
When you consider Ms. Treem's previous plays reviewed at CurtainUp, this new play seems to complete a feminine issue oriented trilogy. First up was the wonderful A Feminine Ending ( review ) in 2007 about a talented young composer beautifully structured around a musical metaphor. In The How and the Why ( review), Treem moved into another rarely dramatized career area with just two characters — both biologists, one middle aged and one in her late twenties.
. The characters in When We Were Young. . . run the generational and attitudinal gamut — Jones's Agnes being the oldest and sixteen-year-old Penny (Morgan Saylor), the girl she calls her daughter though she's never been married is the youngest. While being a former nurse and a business proprietor who also runs a shelter for battered women points to Agnes as the play's character most actively involved with the feminist movement, but that's not really the case.
Sure, Agnes is fiercely independent and believes women should be educated to pursue meaningful careers and free themselves from abusive relationship. She not only supports abortion, but has actually performed them. However, her independence has kept her as withdrawn from political activism as she is in terms of venting any inner emotional turmoil. She's also a moderate who finds reading cookbooks relaxing and sees attending one's senior prom an enjoyable rather than outdated and demeaning.
The play's more vocal feminists reflecting the various ideologies espoused since Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, are Penny (Morgan Saylor, best known as Dana Brody of the Homeland Show Time series, making an affecting stage debut ) and Hannah (Cherise Boothe, whose work I first admired in the Pulitzer Prize winning Ruined in another). Penny, a brilliant student more interested in getting into Yale than attending her prom, disdainfully calls it "a sort of bastardized summer solstice ritual." The most intensely into the momentum of the times is thirty-ish African-American Lesbian Hannah.
Penny, counter to her declared preference for books over boys turns out to nurture a secret crush on a classmate whose more brawn than brains. And though Hannah admires the feminist women's commune that has brought her to the Island, their over-dramatic life style also makes her re-evaluate just what aspects of feminism are right for her.
Ms. Treem is adept at building tension with short scenes each climaxing with a bang. To heighten the drama she doesn't wait long to bring Mary Anne (Zoe Kazan), one of Agnes's runaways on stage, with a swollen eye, bloody lip. Kazan skillfully portrays a woman whose marriage has turned into a nightmare but who still struggles to control her persistent desire for the husband she''s loved since she was fifteen. She's also the catalyst enabling Penny to make the brawny classmate she fancies ask her to the prom she claims to disdain. The actions taken by Mary Anne and Penny most vividly address the question of how to reconcile desire and independence and extricate oneself from being a victim.
Patch Darragh as the only male character rounds out this dramatized chapter in feminist history. He is at once charming, funny and poignant. His Paul is a thirty something song writer from San Francisco who finds himself uncomfortably at sea in the clamor of the changes all around him — which includes a wife who left him, not because he beat her as Mary Anne's John did, but because the new mores activated her yearning for someone more exciting. Darragh's occasional singing adds an enjoyable light touch.
Director Pat MacKinnon has found a way deep enough into the hearts of these people who are different yet somehow alike in their need to sort out their emotional dilemmas. The production details reflect her compatibility with the designers. Scott Pask's authentically detailed single set is subtly lit by Russel H. Champa and Jessica Pabst nicely evokes the period with her costumes. Broken Chord intersperses each of the short scenes with appropriate music.
All this said, not everything is perfect. The second act goes a overboard on polemical and not entirely convincing denouement between Agnes and Hannah. And, while Treem knows how to hold her audience's attention, When We Were Young and Unafraid tackles so many themes and situations that it ends up feeling more than a little overstuffed. Still, though Cherry Jones could indeed draw an audience by reading the telephone directory, it's a lot more satisfying to see her interacting so potently with these very fine fellow actors.
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When We Were Young and Unafraid by Sarah Treem Directed byPam MacKinnon Cast: Cherry Jones (Agnes), Cherise Boothe (Hannah), Patch Darragh (Paul), Zoe Kazan (Mary Anne), Morgan Saylor (Penny) Sets: Scott Pask Costumes: Jessica Pabst Lighting: Russell H. Champa Original music and sound design: Broken Chord Hair & Wig Design: Leah J. Loukas Fight director: Thomas Schall Stage Manager Roy Harris Running Time: 2 hours, plus one intermission Manhattan Theatre Club New York City CenterStage I From 5/21/15; opening 6/17/14; Closing 8/10/14 Reviewed by Elyse Sommer at June 14th press Preview |
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