Huntington Hits Perfecta With 'Becky Shaw'

Becky Shaw

Written by Gina Gionfriddo, Directed by Peter Dubois, Scenic Design by Derek McLane, Costume Design by Jeff Mahshie, Lighting Design by David Weiner, Sound Design by Walter Trarbach, Casting by Alaine Alldaffer, Production Stage Manager Lori Ann Zepp, Stage Manager Carola Morrone

CAST (in order of appearance): Suzanna Slater, Keira Naughton; Max Garrett, Seth Fisher; Susan Slater, Maureen Anderman; Andrew Porter, Eli James; Becky Shaw, Wendy Hoopes

Performances through April 4 at Boston University Theatre, 264 Huntington Avenue         Box Office 617-266-0800 or www.huntingtontheatre.org

If theatre productions were handicapped like horse races, the Huntington Theatre Company would win the Daily Double with its concurrent offerings of Gina Gionfriddo's 2009 Off Broadway smash hit Becky Shaw at the B.U. Theatre and Lydia Diamond's critically acclaimed Stick Fly at the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts. The latter has been extended to March 28^th, and judging by the audience reception on opening night, Becky will be boffo in Boston, as it was in New York. Huntington Artistic Director Peter Dubois reprises his role as director to bring this laugh-filled crowd pleaser to his new hometown.

Gionfriddo's Pulitzer Prize finalist is a scathing black comedy that examines relationships, class, hospitality, and personal responsibility by asking questions we don't often voice and providing answers we rarely hear. She has a gift for writing dialogue that allows her characters to say things out loud that usually run unspoken through our minds. It is refreshing and outrageously funny when the filters are removed and someone says what s/he is actually thinking. Of course, these remarks are far from endearing and create conflicts that drive the storyline, ostensibly about a blind date gone bad.

The play employs a prologue scene to introduce Suzanna (Keira Naughton), Max (Seth Fisher), and Suzanna's mother Susan (Maureen Anderman), dealing with estate issues four months after the death of the family patriarch. Max was raised by the Slaters after the death of his mother when he was ten years old, but his role is more one of money manager and tough love life coach than son or brother. At first, I thought that he and Suzanna were a married couple because of the dynamic between them, but let's just say it's complicated and shapes their relationships with others, as well. Mother has moved on and taken a lover, while daughter bristles at this perceived lack of grief and continues to wear black and "float alone in the universe."

Seven months later, Suzanna is living in Providence, Rhode Island, with her new husband Andrew (Eli James), a gentle soul and aspiring writer, and working as a psychologist in a neighborhood clinic. Although it is never explained why they thought this might be a good idea, the newlyweds set up Max with Andrew's fragile co-worker Becky (Wendy Hoopes) for a blind date. As she discloses pieces of information about herself upon first meeting, her story seems like a script from a Lifetime movie of the week, and that's just the beginning. When Max and Becky are robbed at gunpoint on their date, their reactions to the event are entirely disparate. He just wants to put the whole evening behind him and have nothing more to do with her, while she feels that they now share a bond and craves further connection. As Andrew and Suzanna get drawn into the drama, alliances are formed and suspense builds as noses get out of joint.

Gionfriddo's characters are distinctive and well-drawn. Max is the giant id of this quintet, rarely able to contain the impulse to speak his mind. He spews barbs in a sardonic tone, yet is taken aback when his gems are not well-received. Susan, who also has a caustic side, appreciates his skills and loyalty, at the same time as she sees his shortcomings and tries to help her daughter understand how Max has affected her life. Mother is a realist who accepts life on its terms and tries to convey that lesson to Suzanna. For someone with a Ph.D. in psychology, Suzanna doesn't have much insight into human nature, but she learns and grows from her experiences. Max is the one to tell her that her husband hears a woman say, "I want to hurt myself like a...mating call," before Suzanna recognizes Andrew's need to heal the wounded as his purpose. The title character is the most layered and uses everything she has to make her way in the world. Even Max, who considers himself smarter than everyone else, is bested by Becky (who has a Ph. D. from the school of hard knocks) as she shows that she knows him better than he knows himself.

DuBois also knows the characters well, and guides the cast into fully realizing them on the stage. The writing is incisive and snappy, and the alchemy of these five strong performances makes it crackle and pop. Hoopes manages to garner compassion for Becky even as she is wreaking havoc in the lives of those around her, sucking them into the vortex of her victimhood. Fisher takes command, as Max is wont to do, but allows just a hint of little boy insecurity to show through his armor, and I mean it as a compliment when I say his portrayal reminds me of the work of the late Ron Silver on "The West Wing." He and Naughton make sparks fly, whether they're sparring or spooning, and her Suzanna is plausibly sympathetic as she travels over a challenging arc. James is sweet and genuine, and Anderman is wonderful, telling you everything you need to know about Susan by her carriage and facial expressions.

Derek McLane frames the story nicely with set pieces that slide on and off the stage. The New York hotel room and Susan's home in Richmond, Virginia, are tasteful and more elegant than the post-college décor in the apartment of Becky and typical poor graduate student digs of Andrew and Suzanna. Interesting depth is added by having an upstage wall slide open to reveal a second room in some scenes, David Weiner's lighting provides texture, and Jeff Mahshie captures the personalities of the characters with his costume designs. The play also features an eclectic, kickin' "soundtrack" between scenes, compiled by Gionfriddo and DuBois (access it on the theatre's website).

Becky Shaw is not without its flaws. Not too many people converse in one-liners the way Max and Suzanna do, but the shots are funny and it does seem right for them. Each of the characters has at least one defect that fits in nicely with everyone else's defects, some more credibly than others. However, those defects define the characters and provide the comic elements that they bring to the party. I don't think I'd want to be at a party with them if they were real people, but they sure are fun to watch from a safe distance.

 

 

Photo Credit: T. Charles Erickson (Wendy Hoopes, Eli James, Keira Naughton, Seth Fisher)

 

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