Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – ANATOMY OF A SUICIDE, Alice Birch’s daring and unsparing experiment, pays off in spades

• By drediman
• February 19, 2020
• No Comments

Carla Gugino and Ava Briglia in Atlantic Theater Company’s production of “Anatomy of a Suicide” by Alice Birch at the Linda Gross Theater. Photo by Ahron R. Foster.

Last night, Atlantic Theater Company’s production of Anatomy of a Suicide by Alice Birch opened Off-Broadway at the Linda Gross Theater. Alice Birch is one of the more exciting and adventurous playwrights currently working in the industry. She burst onto the New York theater scene a few years ago with works like Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again., which stunned audiences at Soho Rep. Ms. Birch’s latest play at the Atlantic – which tells the overlapping tale of three generations of psychologically-troubled women – arrives in New York after having received the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize last year.

The play’s bold decision to simultaneously tell three interlocking narratives takes a while to get used to, but once you get used to the cacophony of the structure, you’ll realize just how carefully calibrated – even symphonic – the work truly is. In essence, all of the “threads” are clear-eyed, unsympathetic portraits of severely troubled women. To watch them unfold at the same time quite effectively emphasizes the parallels between the life decisions of grandmother, mother, and daughter. In collapsed time, the play seems to daringly suggest the inescapability of one’s genetic fate, which in my mind is a rather stark stance on human existence. Indeed, Anatomy of a Suicide is an unsparing new play, and its daring experimentation pays off in spades in theatrical terms.

The production has been tightly and stylishly staged by brilliant director Lileana Blain-Cruz. The level of precision – the production’s sense of timing is impeccable – accomplished by Ms. Blain-Cruz and her exquisite cast is nothing short of astonishing. Returning to the stage is the gorgeous and gorgeously talented actress Carla Gugino as the “oldest” in the line of women, and she’s just as effortlessly sensuous and radiant as she was a decade ago in the Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams’ Desire Under the Elms. Ms. Gugino’s intense, deeply personal work informs the “subsequent” two actresses (the youngish Celeste Aria and Gabby Beans, both excellent), although neither have the ferocious magnetism of their forebear.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

ANATOMY OF A SUICIDE
Off-Broadway, Play
Atlantic Theater Company / Linda Gross Theatre
1 hour, 45 minutes (without an intermission)
Through May 15