Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Chad Beckim’s domestic opioid tragedy NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY devastates slowly but surely

• By drediman
• October 16, 2019
• No Comments

Mary Bacon, Michéal Richardson, and Talene Monahon in Partial Comfort Productions’ staging of “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Chad Beckim at A.R.T./New York Theatres. Photo: Spencer Moses

Last night at Off-Broadway’s A.R.T./New York Theatres, I attended a performance of Partial Comfort Productions’ staging of Nothing Gold Can Stay, a new play by Chad Beckim. Set in a depressed, stagnant small town in frigid Maine, the play is a domestic drama about the tragic effects of the ongoing opioid crisis on two seemingly solid lower middle class families.

In a series of short, surely-crafted scenes, Mr. Beckim’s play slowly but surely devastates. As I’ve commented on a number of occasions recently, the playwright continues a trend that I find somewhat disconcerting – in that he seems to be writing for film or television rather than for the stage, resulting in a play that’s episodic rather than organic in nature. However, when the characters and circumstances are as compelling as Mr. Beckim’s creations, my minor complaint is neither here nor there.

Nothing Gold Can Stay has been directed with simmering intensity by Shelley Butler, whose thoughtful sense of realism is refreshing in this age of boisterous, heightened new works of theater. The cast is very good, and the chemistry among the quietly despairing characters is intimate yet palpable. The production also marks the New York stage debut of Michéal Richardson – the son of film star Liam Neeson and the late, great, and much-missed Natasha Richardson (Michéal bears a striking resemblance to a young, lankier version of his father) – who, like Mr. Beckim’s play, solidly registers.

RECOMMENDED

NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY
Off-Broadway, Play
Partial Comfort Productions / A.R.T./New York Theatres
1 hour, 35 minutes (without an intermission)
Through October 26