Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Lonergan’s compassionate yet clear-eyed THE WAVERLY GALLERY breaks the heart, slowly but surely

• By drediman
• October 27, 2018
• No Comments

The company of Kenneth Lonergan’s “The Waverly Gallery” at the John Golden Theatre. Photo by Brigitte Lacombe.

Last night, the Main Stem revival of Kenneth Lonergan’s 1999 play The Waverly Gallery opened at the John Golden Theatre. Mr. Lonergan’s play about one woman’s descent into senility – and its very immediate effects on her family (and friends) – is perhaps one of the most heartbreaking and clear-eyed portraits of mortality you’ll find on the currently in New York; it’s also one of the most compassionate. This dichotomy has long been one of the playwright’s more recognizable badges, whether the subjects are the mediocre teenagers of This is Our Youth or the aimless adults that populate Lobby Hero. By the way, both of these mentioned plays – in my opinion very much modern classics – have in recent seasons graced the boards of Broadway, and deservedly so.

In The Waverly Gallery, Mr. Lonergan superficially has the opportunity to show us a wider variety of characters. The play sheds a revealing light on the tough realities of later life, portraying not just the ugly bits but also the humanity beneath such intrinsically tragic but necessarily shared, rippling experiences. Ultimately, the play presents its array of disparate characters as just humans – nothing more, nothing less. That the play’s inescapable heartbreak, which comes at you slowly but surely, is eclipsed by the raw but beautiful honesty of its depiction is a testament to the playwright’s extraordinary, albeit subtle, craft. Indeed, Mr. Lonergan’s play asks us to think long and hard about what’s to come in a way that’s sad but never depressing, and even oddly comforting.

Without a doubt, the fragile yet courageously determined center of the play is Elaine May’s Gladys, the elderly woman who retrogrades in her mental capacities over the course of The Waverly Gallery. Ms. May conveys this process with such naturalistic skill that one really can’t rely on suspending disbelief to distance oneself from the story’s inevitable downwards spiral. The effect of her unnervingly transparent acting is visceral, but it also teaches us the valuable lesson of basking in the present moment. Surrounding her are her loved ones, portrayed with painfully recognizable ambivalence by the likes of the great Joan Allen and David Cromer (her successful, level-headed daughter and son-in-law), Lucas Hedges (her pragmatic and grandson), and Michael Cera (the disillusioned artist she attempts to support). Acting-wise, they’re all in glorious form, as sensitively directed by the very talented Lila Neugebauer.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

THE WAVERLY GALLERY
Broadway, Play
John Golden Theatre
2 hours, 15 minutes (with one intermission)
Through January 27