Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Memory in motion: Paul David Young’s ALL MY FATHERS and Tennessee Williams’ THE GLASS MENAGERIE

• By drediman
• October 11, 2019
• No Comments

This past weekend, I caught back-to-back performances in the East Village – Austin Pendleton and Peter Bloch’s revival of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie at the Wild Project and Paul David Young’s new play All My Fathers at La MaMa. What I didn’t expect is the extent to which these plays would speak to each other, particularly with their respective rumination on memory in theatrical terms.

Spencer Scott and Alexandra Rose in Ruth Stage’s production of “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams at the Wild Project.

First up was the revival of the oft-performed Tennessee Williams classic The Glass Menagerie (RECOMMENDED). Mr. Williams’ language remains as evocative and gorgeous as ever, which explains its frequent appearance on our stages (the play has been mounted on Broadway twice in recent years in pretty close succession). I can also see why directors have time and time again been drawn to the challenge of interpreting the very fabric of memory – so central to the play – for the stage. The great Mr. Pendleton and Mr. Bloch’s staging for Ruth Stage has been touted as accomplishing this by filtering the play through the lens of the horror genre (‘tis the season, after all!). Indeed, in many ways, The Glass Menagerie, particularly in its spectral final moments, is a ghost story. The central conceit of the play is that our narrator, Tom — quirkily portrayed here by actor Matt de Rogatis — haunts his memories, and vice versa. Ultimately, however, this revival is mostly a traditional rendition of the play, and that’s just fine. The production at the Wild Project is a lucid, single-act reading that’s beautifully-acted by a strong cast who have refreshingly resuscitated Williams’ iconic characters against type (e.g., I’ve never seen Tom’s relationship with Amanda so playfully rendered and genuinely loving).

Richard Gallagher, Deborah Hedwall, Jonathan Hogan in Paul David Young’s “All My Fathers” at La MaMa. Photo by Theo Cote.

Then we have Mr. Young’s new play All My Fathers (RECOMMENDED), which has been stylishly directed by Evan Yionoulis at La MaMa. Mr. Young uses a number of tools in his shed to tell the “pseudo” autobiographical story of his relationship with his parents, specifically in light of a family secret (no spoilers here) that was divulged towards during the twilight of their lives. The playwright leverages a number of classic plays from the American theatrical canon to inform his own story – even the work’s title references Arthur Miller’s All My Sons (which was splendidly revived on Broadway last season). Indeed, the play pays particular homage to The Glass Menagerie by depicting Mr. Young’s love-hate relationship with his frustrating and frustrated mother. Also like the Williams work in question, the playwright also explores the nature of memory itself – notably its correlation with the notion of truth and preexisting narratives – most prominently and strikingly in the play’s somewhat overlong but thought-provoking meta-theatrical coda. The acting is very good across the board, especially Deborah Hedwall and Jonathan Hogan, who gamely play Mr. Young’s aging parents with agility and color.

THE GLASS MENAGERIE
Off-Broadway, Play
The Wild Project / Ruth Stage
2 hours (without an intermission)
Through October 21

ALL MY FATHERS
Off-Broadway, Play
La Mama Experimental Theatre
1 hour, 30 minutes (without an intermission)
Through October 20