Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Mary Wiseman turns in a star-making performance in AT THE WEDDING, Bryna Turner’s slight but emotionally bruised new comedy

• By drediman
• May 24, 2022
• No Comments

This past week, I attended a performance of Lincoln Center Theater’s Off-Broadway production of Bryna Turner’s new play At the Wedding. The comedy (which I thankfully caught before it concluded its limited run at the Claire Tow Theater) takes place during a wedding reception at an upscale but generic barn-like venue in Northern California. Unbeknownst to the wedding party and the guests, Carlo – the bride’s lesbian ex-girlfriend – shows up to cause hurricane-like havoc upon the seemingly celebratory event.

In a series of observant, emotionally fraught one-on-one scenes between Carlo and one of the wedding’s denizens – including a bridesmaid, the groom’s sister (and her boyfriend), the bride’s mom, one of the servers, as well as the bride herself – the playwright charts Carlo’s deepening heartbreak through escalating hilarity. Despite the play’s slight running time (the show only runs a breezy 70 minutes), Turner manages to create a genuinely fascinating character in Carlo, mainly because the playwright doesn’t stand in the way of the character’s stark contradictions. Indeed, Carlo’s slicing humor is rooted in the friction between viciously self-sabotaging behavior (she is an alcoholic, after all) and a genuine desire to heal and move beyond heartache.

As Carlo, Mary Wiseman gives one of the more memorable comedic and emotionally bruised performances of the spring season (move over, Billy Crystal!). Like an unstoppable force of nature, she bulldozes through her scenes with lashing acidity and comic surety. It’s a star-making performance that’s likely to turn heads and open doors. The otherwise astutely-acted production has been directed with wit and style by Jenna Worsham, who keeps the pacing snappy and uncannily balances the play’s levity and inner turmoil.

RECOMMENDED

AT THE WEDDING
Off-Broadway, Play
Lincoln Center Theater at the Claire Tow Theater
1 hour, 10 minutes (without an intermission)
Closed