Review: APPROPRIATE: Uncovered and Uncomfortable at Bluebarn Theatre

Don’t go see APPROPRIATE now showing at Bluebarn Theatre if you want a pleasant evening out where you go home feeling good. This is a play that will leave you uncomfortable. The crowded set, the deafening sound of cicadas, the inky darkness, the constant bickering… That’s why it works. It achieves its purpose. It agitates us to the point where we understand the severing of family ties over deep secrets. This should have been a reunion replete with stories from childhood and laughter over shared experiences. Not so.

Susan Clement directs a fabulously gifted cast in this gritty, raw look into a family that is meeting to sell their recently departed father’s property in an estate sale. Three siblings with very different lives work with and against each other to sort through their hoarder father’s things. Just as their lives differ, their memories of their father differ. Was he the kind, successful man Toni remembers? Was he abusive to his boys, Bo and Frank (who now goes by Franz)?

The Lafayettes, a white family returning to their father’s plantation in Arkansas, grapple with selling the home which is situated on two slave cemeteries. Is it haunted? Candles flicker. Lights go on and off. And infiltrating the house is the insistent chirp of cicadas. Toni, the eldest sibling, is a divorced mother who has lost her job as the Assistant Principal at her drug dealing son Rhys’ school along with his affection. She is driven, controlling, and sarcastic. Middle son Bo seemingly has it all together with his Jewish wife Rachael, who likes to point out that their two children were raised right. Thirteen year old Cassie ("I'm almost an adult") and hyperactive son Ainsley, are proof that Bo and Rachael are good parents. As for the youngest sibling, Franz, his is a turbulent past of statutory rape accusation and drug addiction.

These three siblings have differing end goals. Toni wants to remember her father as a nice man, a Harvard Law School graduate and possible successor to the Supreme Court. Bo wants money. Franz wants forgiveness.

Leanne Hill Carlson is sublime as the eldest daughter, Toni. Her every phrase and movement is captivating. She is bitterly sarcastic, openly hostile, and yet desperately yearning for affection. We can’t help but overlook her deficiencies and want to like her. She remembers her father as the only one who held her.

Scott Working is so good as Bo that he can go from a passive demeanor to a red faced tirade with one wrong comment. His range of emotion is impressive. He isn’t quite as placid as you would think if you press enough of his buttons.

Michael Cavanaugh epitomizes the bad boy seeing the light. He has grown up in the ten year interim of not seeing his siblings, recognizes his need for forgiveness, and begs for it with heartbreaking childlike sincerity.

Supporting the siblings like perfect puzzle pieces, Daena Schweiger (Rachael), Jenna Janssen (Franz's hippie girlfriend River), Aiden James Poling (Rhys), Olivia Patinkin (Cassie) and Oscar Purcell (Ainsley) round out the characters with just the right touches. This dysfunctional family rings true.

Scenic and Lighting Designer Steven Williams has created a mesmerizing set with such mood altering effect. The mess of items and furniture strewn about the set coupled with dimly lit to totally dark lighting heighten anxiety to where I could feel my heart picking up the pace. Sound Designer Bill Kirby with Sound Board Operator Mindy Cotner exacerbated that tension with constantly chirping cicadas that were at times overwhelming to the point I covered my ears. The cicadas are relentless. Even long dramatic pauses furthered the tension to where I was holding my breath waiting for the action to continue.

Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins put a lot of thought into this play. Susan Clement put an equal amount of thought into it and carried it out magnificently.

APPROPRIATE runs through March 2. Tickets are available online or at the box office.

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