Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Stars take on Sam Shepard’s explosive and meandering CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS, still a relevant allegory for our times

• By drediman
• March 3, 2025
• No Comments

This past weekend, I had the opportunity of attending The New Group’s starry Off-Broadway production of Sam Shepard’s 1978 play Curse of the Starving Class at the Pershing Square Signature Center (the last major revival of the work took place at the very same venue not too long ago in 2019, courtesy of Signature Theatre). In short, Curse of the Starving Class depicts the darkly comic disintegration of a Texan family — the Tates — as they grapple, aimlessly and without much success, for survival, sanity, and meaning in their lives.

The play is Shepard’s distinctive and pungent take on your traditional kitchen sink drama. It joins True West and Buried Child as part of the late playwright’s larger portrait of the dire state of our nation, twisting mythologies of the American family into an absurd and tragic tale rife with stark symbolism and extreme behavior. Although the piece is admittedly overlong and at times unfocused, its themes surrounding the demise of family and society seem more relevant now than ever before. Given that Shepard’s language is characterized by raw poetry and visceral circumstances, the play is perhaps at its most effective when portraying its characters at emotional extremities. Indeed, witnessing the Tates crash-and-burn is quite the spectacle, and I would argue that it’s worth sitting through the play’s unsteady exposition to witness such theatrical explosiveness.

As per usual, the New Group production has been staged by the company’s artistic director Scott Elliot, who does a good job of bringing cohesion in both shape and tone to the largely amorphous, meandering work. Although the play often relies on shock value to pique our interest, Elliot also does an admirable job of treating these episodes in a relatively nonchalant manner, thereby downplaying empty sensationalism. Led by screen stars Christian Slater and Calista Flockhart — as the Tate family patriarch and matriarch, respectively — the committed cast is excellent across the board. Collectively, they fearlessly handle the text’s caustic combination of absurdity and intensity, all the while grounding their performances in specificity.

RECOMMENDED

CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS
Off-Broadway, Play
The New Group at Pershing Square Signature Center
2 hours, 45 minutes (with one intermission)
Through April 6