Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Nowhere to hide: Director Jack Serio brings intense intimacy to Ruby Thomas’s THE ANIMAL KINGDOM

• By drediman
• February 5, 2024
• No Comments

Over the course of the last year or so, director Jack Serio has been quietly making a splash with auteur-like productions like his atmospheric staging of Rita Kalnejais’s This Beautiful Future and, more recently, his “fly-on-the-wall” revival of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya in a loft apartment. Drawing from these two memorable productions is Serio’s current hit staging of Ruby Thomas’s The Animal Kingdom at the Upstairs space of the Connelly Theater in the East Village (although the run is sold out, there is a waitlist for the show, which seats only 50 audience members per performance).

In short, Thomas’s drama — originally presented across the pond in London, and now enjoying its New York premiere — depicts a family reeling from an attempted suicide by one of its own. To deal with this fraught situation, they’ve engaged themselves in group therapy, which sets the scene for the compact play. For better or worse, Thomas shies away from any concrete details behind the motivation for the attempted suicide. Instead, she hones in on the resulting family dynamics of the scenario. Thankfully, Serio’s meticulous, clear-eyed, and extremely intimate production goes a long way in alleviating much of the generic histrionics built into the play. In this intensely claustrophobic staging, there’s no hiding from either the audience, each other, or their own emotions — resulting in a theatrical experience in which the dramatic tension rarely flags.

Serio has elicited some honest performances from his accomplished company. Indeed, the acting by the ensemble cast — which includes the likes of Tasha Lawrence, Uly Schlesinger, David Cromer, Calvin Leon Smith, and Lily McInerny — is uniformly excellent. They bring complexity and detailed idiosyncrasies to their roles, creating fully fleshed out characters from Thomas’s broad strokes. Just as importantly, their ability to intuitively feed off each other’s energy brings visceral realism to the piece. If their overall work is effective rather than affecting, this is a function of the play itself, which holds its cards close to its chest

RECOMMENDED

THE ANIMAL KINGDOM
Off-Broadway, Play
The Connelly Theater Upstairs
1 hour, 20 minutes (without an intermission)
Through February 17