Review: THE INHERITANCE at SpeakEasy Stage is a Six and a Half Hour Look at How Our Lives Make a Lasting Impact

"He has a story to tell- it is banging around inside him, aching to come out. But how does he begin?" These are the first words the audience of SpeakEasy Stage's production of Matthew López's play THE INHERITANCE. The six-and-a-half-hour play (presented in two parts) explores what it means to write the "story of our lives" and how our place in the world impacts those who come after us.

THE INHERITANCE tells the story of Eric Glass (Eddie Shields), a middle-class activist who is in his mid-thirties. He is an incredibly sweet man who has a lot of love for those around him, but not so much for himself. He lives with his partner Toby Darling (Jared Reinfeldt) who is an up-and-coming author and playwright. The play follows their lives through a five-year period. The audience is taken on a journey of love, loss, friendship, and pain.

Paul Daigneault does a fantastic job of directing this work. He is able to keep the lengthy play moving quickly and visually interesting. Each move and beat of the play is clearly thought-out. The play is performed on a three-quarter thrust stage which can sometimes be difficult to work on as there's more possibility of action being blocked, but there were only one or two moments where I couldn't see because there was an actor was blocking my line of sight.

The script is, for the most part, well written. It uses an interesting form of storytelling where it feels like we are watching the play being written as it goes on. López does a great job of mixing humor into a mostly dramatic play. The play starts off fun and light-hearted but slowly takes a dramatic turn. The way López writes makes the play feel less like you're sitting through six and a half hours of theatre and more like you're binging a really entertaining. There is one scene in act two of part one that feels less like a conversation amongst friends and more of PSA. Eric has his friends over for his 34th birthday and a casual conversation turns into how the gay community doesn't exactly feel like a community anymore. This had the potential to be a really interesting conversation but instead, I felt like I was being fed facts.

The cast does a fantastic job with this script. Eddie Shields as Eric does a wonderful job at portraying the character's kindness and sensitivity. He makes Eric feel like someone I would want to be friends with. Jared Reinfeldt expertly handles the range of emotions and thoughts that the character Toby Darling has. He masterfully uses various levels of intensity to show the audience how Toby is feeling at any given moment. The stand-outs in the cast to me were Mishka Yarovoy as Adam/Leo and Mark H. Dold as Morgan/Walter Poole. Yarovoy fully embodies both characters he is playing. Adam and Leo are two very different characters who happen to look similar. It is sometimes difficult when actors are playing two characters to tell the two characters apart. However, Yarovoy uses his voice and movements to keep each character distinct, even at a point where the two characters meet. Dold also succeeds in keeping each of his characters distinct. His performance as Walter Poole is especially moving.

The one thing I wish I saw in the cast was a better diversity of body types. For the most part, the central cast of "Young Men" were thin, conventionally attractive men. This is not a true reflection of the gay community and I truly wish this was taken into consideration when casting. THE INHERITANCE touches on so many points about what makes the gay community the gay community but the casting ignores how the community truly looks.

Overall, THE INHERITANCE is an incredibly moving piece of theatre that is not to be missed.

THE INHERITANCE is presented by the SpeakEasy Stage company and is written by Matthew López. The play is directed by Paul Daigneault with movement and intimacy direction by Yo-El Cassell. The show is designed by Cristina Todesco (scenic), Charles Schoonmaker (costume), Karen Perlow (lighting), and Dewey Dellay (original music and sound). Thomas M. Kauffman serves as Production Stage Manager with Lauren Burke as Assistant Stage Manager. THE INHERITANCE runs now through June 11th at the Calderwood Pavillion at the Boston Center for the Arts.

Photo by Nile Scott Studios.

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