Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – All About My Father: Fatherhood woes feature prominently in Lloyd Suh’s FRANKLINLAND and Mathilde Dratwa’s DIRTY LAUNDRY

• By drediman
• October 23, 2024
• No Comments

In my recent theater-going adventures, I came across a pair of new Off-Broadway plays that respectively dramatize — in theatrically imaginative fashion — two cases of fatherhood woes. As always, read on for my thoughts.

DIRTY LAUNDRY
WP Theater
Through October 27

Currently at WP Theater, you’ll find Mathilde Dratwal’s loosely autobiographical new play Dirty Laundry (RECOMMENDED) wrapping up performances (the extended run concludes this weekend). In short, the work portrays the spiky emotional aftermath of the sad passing of a woman — a much loved wife and mother — particularly its impact on the relationship between the husband and daughter she’s left behind. Exacerbating things in this “post” world is a shocking discovery made by the daughter (who is based on the playwright) about her father — no spoilers here — which causes a rift between the two, generating much of the dramatic tension in Dratwa’s play. In many ways, Dirty Laundry is the work of a young playwright (not necessarily a bad thing), which is especially evident in the visceral manner in which she depicts the painful and messy process by which wounds — invariably inflicted by life — are healed. The characters’ conflicting feelings surrounding grief, loss, and disappointment are manifested by three “thought” characters — a similar conceit was used by Michael R. Jackson in his Pulitzer Prize-winning musical A Strange Loop — who bring texture to an otherwise threadbare narrative. Rebecca Martinez’s nicely-paced production puts the play’s best foot forward, thanks largely to some fine acting by the accomplished cast — many of them invaluable mainstays of New York theater (e.g., the terrific Mary Bacon and Constance Shulman).

FRANKLINLAND
Ensemble Studio Theatre
Through November 3

Then there’s the Off-Broadway production of Franklinland (RECOMMENDED) over at Ensemble Studio Theatre in Hell’s Kitchen. Penned by Lloyd Suh — the playwright who brought us such notable works as The Chinese Lady and The Far Country (the latter was a Pulitzer Prize finalist) — the decidedly slight historical fiction chronicles the fraught and tenuous relationship between Benjamin Franklin and his son William in the years leading up to, during, and following the American Revolutionary War. Despite his indisputable status as a key and beloved Founding Father and a scientist and inventor of significance, Suh paints Benjamin Franklin as headstrong and emotionally manipulative — a less than ideal father to his bastard son William, whose dismissive and condescending treatment borders on abuse (a third Franklin generation makes a brief appearance at the end of the play). In a series of deftly-written, snapshot-like scenes, Franklin Senior repeatedly illustrates that there’s little room in his life beyond his extra-familial agendas and his own inflated ego. Here, Suh redirects the focus from his typical rich interrogation of history to juxtaposing the notion of an imperfect family with the flawed idea of the American experiment. Thanks to Chika Ike’s snappy direction and some animated, astute acting — particularly from veteran stage actor Thomas Jay Ryan as Senior and an endearing Noah Keyishian as Junior — Franklinland is never less than entertaining, even if its light touch and sketch-like approach undermine the larger points the play is endeavoring to make.