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| Chris Henry Coffey, Tanya Fischer, Allyn Burrows & Meredith Forlenza in "Can You Forgive Her?" (photo: T. Charles Erickson) |
Moments into the first scene of “Can You Forgive
Her?”, the new play by Gina Gionfriddo now being presented by
Huntington Theatre Company, not one but two great pumpkins appear.
They've been deemed too scary by one character's (unseen) young
daughter, but what will soon follow are scenes far scarier. This is,
after all, the work of a playwright whose blistering humor (in two
Pulitzer finalists, Becky Shaw and Rapture, Blister, Burn)
graced the stage at Huntington so memorably in the past (2009
and 2013 respectively). This one, a world premiere, has been
referred to as “a life and death comedy”, and that's a pretty
accurate tag line. Taking place over a single alcohol-lubricated
night in a New Jersey beach town, this 105 minute intermissionless
ride features Gionfriddo's familiar targets, inherently flawed
characters confronting their limited and limiting choices. We the
audience are like gawker-blockers watching, in slow motion (too slow
at times) as a seemingly inevitable train wreck occurs before our
very eyes. It's a lengthy set up for a powerful payoff. Directed by
the company's Artistic Director Peter DuBois at full throttle, it's a
dazzler. The title comes from an Anthony Trollope novel about women weighing their
possible options with regard to the men in their lives; as the
playwright herself puts it: “is it unforgivable to expect more out
of life than the dull suitor (a woman is) expected to go with?”,
given a choice between charmless men with money or charmers without
it.
Halloween Night finds our central character Miranda
(Meredith Forlenza) looking desperately for a way out of her present
predicaments: mired in student debt, with growing feelings toward the
man who's paying those bills, and with her date threatening to kill
her. She's been seeing both her sugar daddy David (Allyn Burrows), a
brilliant but unemotionally involved doctor with whom she has what
might be called a “mutually beneficial arrangement”, and now
another man, Sateesh (Theo Iyer). She finds herself in the home of a
charismatic and grieving stranger, Graham (Chris Henry Coffey), who
offers her refuge and a drink. Also involved is a local barmaid,
Tanya (Tayna Fischer), a single mom. All are struggling with past
choices that impact their current lives, searching for personal
stability, security, and of course, love. Add to the mix the larger
social issues of financial freedom, security, and income inequality,
and you have all the ingredients for another typically witty and
timely treatment by Gionfriddo, who once again strikes a wonderful
balance between the woes of the individual and society at large. All
of her characters are seeking financial security, love, and
recognition, with “urgent appetite for something they don't have”.
Miranda in particular, with her “suicidal mountain of debt” is a
self-absorbed, self-destructive and hyper-exaggerating mess who
declares that she has “personally never encountered love but
believe(s) it's out there”. In her own fascinatingly annoying
view, she envisions a knife-wielding stalker out to kill her. You
can't take your eyes off Forlenza even as you dread the nightmare it
would be to be trapped in an elevator with her or, for that matter,
with Burrows, the other half of their sadomasochistic relationship.
Fischer is adept at conveying Tanya's own neuroses, and Coffey is
hysterically reactive throughout, his facial expressions and
laid-back movement a joy to watch. As Miranda describes David, and
could equally well describe the whole cast, these are not necessarily
good people, but they're all decent (though her vitriol gets a bit
out of hand when she adds that David is an “emotional cypher with
reptilian DNA”).
The technical contributions are all very well executed,
from the Scenic Design by Lauren Helpern (the unit set presents a
house that represents the life of Graham's mother, earlier and
happier, later deteriorating, not well-maintained) to the Costume
Design by Mary Lauve, Lighting Design by Phillip S. Rosenberg, and
Sound Design by Daniel Kluger.
Near the end of the play, Graham observes the danger of
“the examined life... you might find yourself unhappy”. The
playwright has once again examined life and found both pathos and
humor in it. Theatergoers might find themselves in pain from
splitting their sides and having their credulity strained. Some of
the plotting is pretty contrived (such as how they all first
encounter one another), but there's a lot of truth lurking beneath
her crafty dialogue, so one could easily forgive Gionfriddo. Given
the sharpness of her skewer and her insight and wit, we all remain
indebted.
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