BWW Reviews: New England Premiere of SWEET AND SAD at Gloucester Stage

Sweet and Sad

Written by Richard Nelson, Directed by Weylin Symes; Scenic Design, Crystal Tiala; Costume Design, Gail Astrid Buckley; Lighting Design, Russ Swift; Sound Design, David Wilson; Stage Manager, Marsha Smith

CAST (in alphabetical order): Joel Colodner, Laura Latreille, Karen MacDonald, Paul Melendy, Bill Mootos, Sarah Newhouse

Performances through June 20 at Gloucester Stage, 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA; Box Office 978-281-4433 or www.gloucesterstage.com

Gloucester Stage opens its 36th season with the New England premiere of Richard Nelson's Sweet and Sad, the second play in his four-part American epic collectively known as The Apple Family Plays. Stoneham Theatre took the first bite of the apple with their production of That Hopey Changey Thing in February, initiating a two-year collaboration with Gloucester Stage that will see each company producing two of the plays between this year and next. Stoneham's Producing Artistic Director Weylin Symes directs the entire series at both venues with the same design team and cast of six signed on for the project.

Each of the plays may be taken on its own merits, but my experience with Sweet and Sad was richer for having seen the first entry, especially because I could note the evolution of the onstage relationships and the depth of the characterizations. This is altogether a fine ensemble of Boston actors who are exploring the nooks and crannies of the individual Apples and finding the interwoven branches which connect them on the family tree. Their efforts result in a relaxed, intimate portrait of an ordinary American family sitting around the dinner table behaving like real people who could be us.

Uncle Benjamin (Joel Colodner) is the senior member of the clan who was once an actor, but suffers from amnesia secondary to a heart attack. He is overly-protected by his nieces Barbara (Karen MacDonald) and Marian (Sarah Newhouse), sisters who are also looking out for each other since the latter moved into the house following a tragedy in her own family. Brother Richard (Bill Mootos), sister Jane (Laura Latreille), and her beau Tim (Paul Melendy) are visiting the homestead in Rhinebeck, New York, to attend a memorial service on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of September 11th.

At times it seems like Sweet and Sad is more a culinary exercise than a theatrical one, as the Apples sit down to an extended meal from drinks to salad to entree to dessert and coffee. However, their buffet-style repast is a metaphor for the widely-varied menu of topics of conversation that they bite off, masticate, and digest. Some bits go down more easily than others, leaving plenty to spar over for the conflict necessary to fuel the play. Sibling revelry and rivalry, misunderstandings, differences of opinion about people and politics, and the minutiae of family attachments all enter into the mix during the course of an hour and forty minutes (w/o intermission) that passes like real time, meaning that some of it flies and some of it lags. However, the actors are so natural and spot on that the audience becomes a silent guest at the dinner party, too absorbed in the conversation to utter a word or pay attention to the time.

Like the other three plays in the cycle, Sweet and Sad had its world premiere in New York on the date on which it is set (September 11, 2011), and Nelson's dialogue reflects the intense emotions of the day. Each of the Apples has their memories and deals with them in their own way, but the fact that they have come together to share a meal and attend the memorial service speaks volumes about who they are as a family. The horror and losses of 911 are never far from their minds, but that doesn't mean that they can't laugh, argue with each other, and enjoy a good meal in the place that feels like a sanctuary. Ultimately, they trust each other enough to ask some very troubling questions about the victims and our government, to talk about matters that have no simple answers. For the playwright to put those words in their mouths suggests that he trusts the ability of the audience to hear them. It's a risky proposition, but these actors have the sincerity and integrity to make the case for questioning authority.

Photo credit: Gary Ng (Karen MacDonald, Joel Colodner, Paul Melendy, Sarah Newhouse, Laura Latreille, Bill Mootos)

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