Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Six Tall Women: Tracy Letts’ magnificent MARY PAGE MARLOWE astutely explores the nature of identity

• By drediman
• July 13, 2018
• No Comments

Gary Wilmes and Tatiana Maslany in Tracy Letts’ “Mary Page Marlowe” courtesy of Second Stage Theater.

There is no doubting that Tracy Letts is one of America’s great writers for the stage. His early career as a playwright – Mr. Letts is also a rather fine actor – was characterized by visceral, in-your-face psycho-thrillers. Plays like Bug and Killer Joe are typical of those early days. Then he wrote his vicious, wickedly entertaining Pulitzer Prize-winning opus August: Osage County, an epic family saga on the same scale as Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night. Since then, he’s largely dialed down the intensity and grandiosity of his playwriting, instead focusing on the subtle nuances underpinning human existence and our interactions with each other.

Last night, his 2016 play Mary Page Marlowe made its New York bow Off-Broadway courtesy of Second Stage Theater. The play is reminiscent of Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women (which just enjoyed a exquisite revival on Broadway) in that it explores the nature of identity by having six different actresses play the same woman at various stages of her life. Mary Page Marlowe takes Albee’s conceit one step further by seemingly suggesting that identity is overrated (or underrated, depending on how you interpret the play); who we are is simply a social construct and cannot be contained nor defined. Matters are complicated when Mary Page herself gets wind of this notion. As a result, the play becomes a fascinating chicken-or-egg character study of a woman who continually and consciously defies expectations made for her.

I had seen the play in its premiere production at Chicago’s mighty Steppenwolf Theatre, and I thought it was magnificent. Upon revisiting the play in the current production under the incisive direction of the great Lila Neugebauer, I heartily reiterate this sentiment. The play is an observant, psychologically astute play that raises questions and elegantly indicates possible answers without being prescriptive. There’s a mystery to Mary Page Marlowe, both the play as well as the character, that only adds to its allure. The six actresses who play the title character – Tatiana Maslany, Blair Brown, Kellie Overbey, Emma Geer, Susan Pourfar, and Mia Sinclair Jenness – are all superb. In their hands, Mary Page seduces with her multiplicity.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

MARY PAGE MARLOWE
Off-Broadway, Play
Second Stage Theater
1 hour, 30 minutes (without an intermission)
Through August 12