Review: CAN YOU FORGIVE HER? World Premiere at Huntington Theatre Company

Can You Forgive Her?

Written by Gina Gionfriddo, Directed by Peter DuBois; Scenic Design, Lauren Helpern; Costume Design, Mary Lauve; Lighting Design, Philip S. Rosenberg; Sound Design, Daniel Kluger; Production Stage Manager, Emily F. McMullen; Stage Manager, Kevin Schlagle

CAST (in order of appearance): Chris Henry Coffey, Tanya Fischer, Meredith Forlenza, Allyn Burrows, Theo Iyer

Performances through April 24 at the Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street, Boston, MA; Box Office 617-266-0800 or www.huntingtontheatre.org

Huntington Theatre Company Artistic Director Peter DuBois and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Gina Gionfriddo team up once again to present the world premiere of her latest play, Can You Forgive Her? Tapping a familiar vein, the playwright grounds her story in the flawed characters who are thrown together in unlikely circumstances, challenging them to devise workable solutions that will extricate them from their dire straits. Staggering debt and financial hardship may not seem to be subjects from which comedy naturally emanates, but Gionfriddo dabbles in the dark arts and spins money woes into comic gold. Thanks to their longstanding friendship and collaborative history, DuBois "gets" where Gionfriddo wants the story to go and guides the cast sure-footedly on the path she mapped out.

Set in a rundown New Jersey beach house on Halloween night, the first scene opens on a pivotal moment in the relationship between Graham (Chris Henry Coffey) and Tanya (Tanya Fischer). She is a 27-year old single mother of a toddler who is trying to pull herself out of the morass resulting from bad choices (she was involved with a "casual" heroin addict), but realizing that Graham's marriage proposal may not be the panacea she seeks. Tanya is working as a bartender and living with her parents, but sees her circumstances as temporary while she practices the principles of a self-help book. He is stuck in his own emotional morass since the death of his mother four months earlier, and no amount of coaxing or prodding by Tanya has moved him to read the self-help book or go through reams of his mother's unpublished writing that she left in boxes piled up in the house. More than a decade older than Tanya, Graham is at a crossroads in his life where none of the routes look especially appealing, but he needs to move forward if he wants to be with her.

The second of two long scenes introduces Miranda (Meredith Forlenza), a brassy and attractive 28-year old woman who is hiding out from her Indian boyfriend who she thinks wants to kill her. After an incident at the bar, Tanya sends Miranda to Graham's house for safekeeping and, as it turns out, more drinking. The polar opposite of Tanya, Miranda's remedy for her overwhelming student loan debt is to be a romantic companion to David (Allyn Burrows), a financially secure, yet emotionally unavailable, older man who found her on a website. However, she is also stringing along the aforementioned boyfriend Sateesh (Theo Iyer) for fun and games. On this Halloween night, she fears it is all coming to an end and spills her woes to Graham, believing that he understands and shares her blackness. As much as she wants to be out of debt, Miranda also wants to be in a loving relationship. Cynical as she is, she believes that love is out there, even though she has never experienced it herself. Will she lose her Sugar Daddy if she lets herself fall for David?

The performances by this incredible group of actors are convincing and entertaining. Forlenza takes no prisoners and her eye rolls alone are worth the price of admission, but she is totally irresistible throughout her long scene. Coffey's manner is relaxed and casual, yet he embodies Graham's feelings of loss and being lost. His connection with Fischer as the straight-laced Tanya gives him the chance to be uncomfortable while she gives him the tough love treatment, and he can be looser with Forlenza's character. Burrows is appropriately dry and displays spot on comic timing. Iyer has minimal time on stage, but we keep expecting him to show up, giving his sudden appearance great impact.

Lauren Helpern's scenic design effectively conveys the house-as-albatross to Graham. It is his final connection to his late mother and fills him with mixed emotions. Lighting designer Philip S. Rosenberg provides nuance as the evening progresses, and sound designer Daniel Kluger brings in the distant ocean and music from an old turntable. Costume designer Mary Lauve gives Graham a rumpled look with jeans and an open shirt over a tee shirt, puts Tanya in a period wench outfit for her bartender's uniform, and pours Miranda into a body-hugging little black dress.

The writing sparkles in Can You Forgive Her? and makes us care what happens to a quintet of sympathetic, albeit not overtly likable, characters. Each of them has a predicament and takes a journey of self-discovery that gets resolved by the end of the play. In fact, I would have preferred that the Tanya-Graham relationship be left more in doubt than Gionfriddo's pat resolution. However, the outcome didn't matter to me as much as the process and the roads traveled by the characters. It is unlikely that we would make the same choices they do to pull themselves out of their hardship circumstances, but we might learn from their bad examples. Failing that, there are always good self-help books.

Photo credit: T. Charles Erickson (Chris Henry Coffey, Tanya Fischer, Allyn Burrows, Meredith Forlenza)

To post a comment, you must register and login.