Theatre in Review: The Other Place (MCC/Lucille Lortel Theatre) Laurie Metcalf is one of the theatre's great quick-change artists, and it's a talent that has nothing to do with her costumes. Instead, her genius lies in how, with stunning economy, she picks the essential dramatic tension out of a scene. All she needs is a line, a gestures, even just a look, and your attention is riveted. I'm still marveling over how - in the late, lamented revival of Brighton Beach Memoirs, Metcalf brought an entire family, squabbling at the dinner table, to stunned silence with a single acrimonious remark. That silence extended into the auditorium, and, for all I know, halfway down 41st Street. This skill is put to the test, with triumphant results, in The Other Place. Playing a scientist and drug company marketing executive undergoing a profound disintegration, Metcalf negotiates the twists and turns of Sharr White's script with the skill of an acrobat doing backflips. From moment to moment -- sometimes second to second -- she is authoritative, bitter, sarcastic, accusatory, terrified, and ravaged by furies. It's a Grucci-level display of emotional fireworks, and yet each shift in attitude seems part of a carefully considered approach to the character; at no time do you feel you're being subjected to a vain display of technique. This is one of the most notable performances of the year. That The Other Place isn't one of the most notable productions of the year has to do with White's script, which seems calculated to create a tour de force for an actress rather than making any kind of meaningful comment on mental illness or family life. It's almost impossible to discuss the script, because White has assembled it so twistily that any description of the action becomes one giant spoiler alert. All I can reveal is that the action begins at a Caribbean resort where Juliana, Metcalf's character, making a presentation to an audience of doctors, suffers some kind of episode. Juliana returns home and announces that she has brain cancer, but the truth turns out to be much sadder and complicated. As the play unfolds, we follow Juliana through a shifting maze of relationships and memories -- especially of the incident that devastated her family years before -- only gradually arriving at an understanding of what ails her. But, by making Juliana's affliction the object -- the McGuffin, if you will -- of a thriller-like structure, White risks turning tragedy into a parlor game. I'll lay even odds that, when you discover exactly what is wrong with Juliana, you'll feel an "aha!" of discovery rather than a shock of empathy. If not for Metcalf's nerve-shredding intensity, The Other Place might feel like an unpleasantly calculating piece of work. Everything else in Joe Mantello's production is first-rate, including Dennis Boutsikaris as Juliana's increasingly frantic husband and Aya Cash in a trio of roles. Mantello has also seen to it that the play has a highly original design. Eugene Lee has wrapped the stage in a series of empty window frames, behind which one can see the stormy projections by William Cusick. Fitz Patton was the sound designer and provided the large number of audio effects. Justin Townsend's lighting transforms the emotional temperature on stage with the flip of a switch. Danne Laffrey's costumes are perfect fine. The Other Place is an odd one --it's both thrilling and unsatisfying, a collection of brutally honest moments that, when added up, produce a strangely contrived effect. Metcalf makes it eminently worth watching, however. And surely someone somewhere is writing a play that will more fully reward her astonishing gifts, Attention, please: The lady needs a role.--David Barbour 
|
