Review: Playwright Florian Zeller Keeps On Playing Those Mind Games With THE HEIGHT OF THE STORM

Audience members sensing a bit of déjà vu watching Jonathan Pryce and Eileen Atkins superbly applying their craft in Christopher Hampton's English translation of French playwright Florian Zeller's The Height of the Storm at Manhattan Theatre Club's Friedman Theatre might smack their foreheads at the realization that this is where they witnessed Hampton's adaptation of Zeller's THE FATHER three years ago.

And some may have also ventured to Atlantic Theater Company last season for the pairing's THE MOTHER. Both of those previous plays dealt with a leading character who was suffering from a mind-altering condition that played with their perception of reality. In THE FATHER, the playwright would frequently change the reality of what the audience was witnessing, giving them a taste of the confusion felt by the title character.

The storytelling goes quite similarly in this new 80-minute piece, and director Jonathan Kent's softly evocative production, which has transferred from London, is granted a bit of a Gothic feel from set/costume designer Anthony Ward's rendering of what might be a cozy country home if not for the harsh angles and imposingly high, cathedral-like archways.

"At the height of the storm

There's always a bird to reassure us,

The unknown bird:

It sings and then it flies away."

It's the morning after a very loud storm and Pryce's Andre, the famed writer who penned the above poem many years ago, stares quietly out the kitchen window, perhaps searching for a sign of reassurance.

Conversations involving his daughters Anne (Amanda Drew) and Elise (Lisa O'Hare) suggest his long-time wife Madeline (Atkins) has recently passed on. But the audience sees her, looking quite alive and vibrant. Then there's the suggestion that it's someone else who may have died.

Is that lively woman (Lucy Cohu) chatting with the family really an old friend and ex-lover of Andre's or is she here for another purpose? Is the fellow played by James Hillier Elise's new boyfriend or is he here on business?

Lighting designer Hugh Vanstone performs some subtle moves to help indicate the various changes in reality, but those unfamiliar with Zeller's previous work may find it very confusing.

But that's the point. Pryce is given the meatiest role, as Andre's frustration and anger at his inability to perceive reality elicits Shakespearean reactions. Atkins is more or less relegated to the even-tempered "supportive wife of an artist" role but the uncertainty of her character's status allows her to indicate multiple meanings to Madeline's loving assurance that Andre will never have to suffer living without her.

At its best, THE HEIGHT OF THE STORM, sensitively touches on the subject of surviving spouses of decades-long marriages reacting to permanent separation, be it by death or by mental deterioration. The two stars are quite touching together, and if the play sags as drama, it succeeds in showcasing a pair of brilliant stage actors.