THE HANGOVER REPORT – Emily Feldman’s THE BEST WE COULD channels classic American plays in its dissection of a family at wits’ end

Frank Wood and Aya Cash in Manhattan Theatre Club’s production of “The Best We Could (a family tragedy)” at New York City Center Stage I (photo by Marc J. Franklin).

Last night, Manhattan Theatre Club’s Off-Broadway production of The Best We Could (a family tragedy) by Emily Feldman opened at New York City Center Stage I. The play’s premise is a relatively simple one – Ms. Feldman paints the picture of and dissects the slowly unraveling of a prototypical – if unremarkable – American family, which for much of the play’s 90-minute running time is at wits’ end.

Throughout, there are strong shades of seminal works written for the American stage, namely Thornton Wilder’s Our Town (the work utilizes a stage manager-like narrator and unfolds on a stage stripped of anything resembling scenery) and Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman (the flawed patriarch bears more than just a passing resemblance to Willy Loman). Only towards the end of the piece does The Best We Could strike out to claim its own identity, which is when the play truly gets interesting, namely in its examination of cancel culture within familial relationships and the grey areas of human behavior.

Despite the derivative nature of the play, there’s much to admire about Daniel Aukin’s austere but confident staging, namely the fine performances he elicits from the production’s quintet of actors. Particularly, Tony-winner Frank Wood is remarkable as the flawed patriarch (really though, the entire family is flawed) who is unaware of just how toxic he is, as is the quietly compelling Maureen Sebastian who plays the work’s narrator (among other characters).

RECOMMENDED

THE BEST WE COULD (A FAMILY TRAGEDY)
Off-Broadway, Play
Manhattan Theatre Club at New York City Center
1 hour, 30 minutes (with no intermission)
Through March 26

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

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