As I entered the theater at Boston Center for the Arts Stanford Calderwood Pavilion, I bumped into my friend, Nancy, a fellow theater critic. I said to her: "I am so excited to see this play again. I loved it in New York, and Tyne Daly was superb." Nancy replied, "Be sure to give Nancy Carroll a chance." She need not have been concerned, for Nancy E. Carroll in the role of Katherine Gerard, grieving mother of a son who had died of AIDS many years ago, anchors this splendid production with all of the grit, grace and artistry that anyone could ask for.
This play, "Mothers and Sons" by Terence McNally is about many things - gay marriage, gay adoption, the lingering pain of the AIDS epidemic, jealousy, grief, and moving on. But at the heart of the story is the painful personal journey of Katherine. She shows up unannounced at the Upper West Side apartment of Cal Porter, her deceased son's former lover. She has come ostensibly to return a diary that her son had written. Cal had sent it to her after Andre's death. Her real reasons for showing up in New York and at Cal's home is to find occasion to vent her spleen. She is furious at the disappointments that she has suffered since growing up poor in Port Chester, New York. She is angry at almost everything - at life, at the world, at New York for her belief that Andre was not gay when he left Dallas, and at Cal for being complicit in Andre's death.
In order for this gorgon to be believable and at all a sympathetic character, much is required of the actress chosen to portray Katherine. Ms. Carroll delivers an award-worthy nuanced performance. When we first meet her, bedecked in her second-hand fur coat, her face is set as hard as rock in a stern grimace. In fact, her profile reminded me of the Old Man of the Mountain - angular, chiseled, apparently immutable and implacable. Those of us who have lived for any length of time in New England know what befell the image of the State of New Hampshire. Forces of nature - wind, storms, freezing and thawing finally took their toll on the iconic stone face and one day it crumbled and was no more. In the same way, forces at work within Cal's apartment that cold and blustery winter day.began to work on Katherine. The story arc includes some freezing and thawing of her attitudes and beliefs, and finally the combination of confrontations with Cal and his husband, Will and several doses of talks and Oreos shared with Bud, their son, causes the stone face to crack and disintegrate. In its place is the beginning of a real human face, and perhaps a real sensate heart beating underneath the cheap fur coat.
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| Nancy E. Carroll as Katherine "Mothers and Sons" SpeakEasy Stage Company Through June 6 Craig Bailey/Perspective Photo |
Despite the importance of the role of Katherine, this is at its heart a wonderfully constructed ensemble piece, and Director Paul Daigneault has assembled a team of three strong male actors to serve as counterweights to Ms. Carroll's formidable Katherine. As Cal, Michael Kaye is pitch perfect. He conveys with great effect the difficult juggling act of handling his still palpable grief over Andre's death with his excitement over his marriage to Will and their co-parenting of the endearing Bud. He tries to be gracious to this woman who wounded Andre and who has shunned Cal - refusing to hug him at Andre's memorial service. He needs to balance his role as host to this uninvited guest against his desire to placate Will, who feels that the sanctity of their home has been breached by this intrusion by a physical reminder of the ghost of Andre that always lingers over the marriage and their life together. Mr. Kaye conveys all of these dynamics with clarity and an impressive range of emotions.
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| Michael Kaye as Cal Nancy E. Carroll as Katherine "Mothers and Sons" SpeakEasy Stage Company Through June 6 Craig Bailey/Perspective Photo |
Cal's husband, Will Ogden, is played by Nile Hawver. As written, the role of Will is that of the nurturing parent - taking Bud to the park, supervising bath time, and responding to an accident in the kitchen. As tender as Will is with Bud, he is equally firm and cold with Katherine. "What are you doing here?" he asks accusingly the first time that the two of them are alone together in the living room. It is clear that what this character wants is to be rid of this woman whom he had heard about for years through Cal's descriptions of the havoc that she had spread through Andre's life. She represents opposition to everything that define Cal and Will's world - she hates gay marriage and gay adoption, and she does not hesitate to dispense her vitriol whenever an opening appears that allows her to do so. Mr. Hawver's performance is a strong one, and we feel both his tenderness and his prickliness.
Liam Lurker plays a winsome and precocious Bud. His is perpetually inquisitive - often asking questions that at first appall Katherine, but which eventually begin the early stages in a thaw in that ice cold soul of hers. Young Master Lurker handles himself as a confident professional on the stage, and his character proves to be irresistible to both Katherine and the audience.
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The creative team that Mr. Daigneault has employed is also impressive, beginning with Erik D> Diaz, who designed the gorgeous set of the Manhattan apartment. Costume design is by Charles Schoonmkerr, Lighting by Jeff Adelberg and Sound by David Remedios
This is a play you do not want to miss. It will run through June 6. Click below for ticket information.
SpeakEasy Stage Website
Enjoy!
Al
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