THEATER
People, Places, and Things
A quiet play is magnifi cent; an epic undertaking falls short
Brenda Whele and Charlotte Bydwell in Richard Nelson’s “The Michaels,” at the Public Theater through December 1.
BY CHRISTOPHER BYRNE
The laconic pacing and
quiet conversation of
Richard Nelson’s latest
play “The Michaels” is the
playwright’s hallmark. The seventh
play in his Rhinebeck Panorama
series takes place in the
kitchen of the eponymous family
as they prepare dinner one quietly
eventful evening.
As with Nelson’s previous plays
— the Apple and Gabriel family
trilogies — “The Michaels” is not
plot-driven. Although there’s the
thread of a storyline, that takes
second place to fi nely etched characters
and how intimately we come
to know them over the course of
just two hours. Nelson is a master
of economical exposition, and as
the evening unfolds we feel as if
we are actually in the kitchen with
the family. At fi rst, we’re strangers,
having to piece together the relationships
and try to understand
the interpersonal dynamics. Yet
just as the meal comes together
over the course of the play, so too
does the full picture of the family.
By the end, we feel a connection
and kind of intimacy that is profoundly
moving.
Nelson, who directed the piece
as well, fi nds truth in every detail
of relationship and behavior. It is
both heartbreaking and hopeful —
and also as close to pure naturalism
as you will fi nd in the theater
today.
While Nelson’s other plays had
political overtones and dealt with
the gentrifi cation of once decidedly
exurban Rhinebeck in the current
economy, the life of “The Michaels:
Conversations During Diffi cult
Times,” the play’s full title, is focused
on the family. The “diffi cult
times” are of a more personal nature,
but there’s just enough of the
outside world to fi rmly locate the
piece in the here and now.
“The Michaels” begins as Nelson’s
other plays do. The cast sets
up the kitchen as the lights come
up, drawing us into the life of the
house that belongs to Rose Michael.
Here for Sunday dinner are
her former husband David, his
new wife Sally, David and Rose’s
daughter Lucy, and Lucy’s cousin
May, daughter to Rose’s sister who
is talked about but never seen.
Joining the family is Irenie Walker
who has arrived for a week’s visit.
Rose was at one time a famed
modern dance choreographer,
JOAN MARCUS
and Sally and Irenie were in her
company some decades ago. Lucy
and May are preparing to perform
some of Rose’s famous dances in
an upcoming tribute. Rose’s partner,
Kate, a retired history teacher,
is managing the dinner and Rose’s
life, for as we come to learn Rose
has late stage ovarian cancer.
Rose is decidedly not going gently
into that good night. Though
revered by all, she is prickly and
unsettled as she resists talking
about her illness, instead insisting
on coaching Lucy and May in their
dances. There are memories shared
of the early days of Rose’s company
as boxes of old pictures come out.
Later, watching the young women
perform, Rose says, “I see ghosts.”
It is a poignant moment, with Rose
caught between the power of art to
create life and her cognizance of
mortality. The play is full of ostensibly
small moments like that, and
many have tremendous emotional
power.
It would be impossible to imagine
a more perfect cast than Nelson
has assembled. Jay O. Sanders
and Maryann Plunkett, who have
appeared in his other works, are
sublime as David and Kate, with
Plunkett’s performance especially
nuanced. Kate is the only character
not involved in dance or a part
of the others’ history, but she is
Rose’s partner. It’s a complex situation,
and Plunkett lets us feel all
of that. Brenda Whele fi lls Rose’s
passion and determination with
muted fi re. We see what has driven
her and feel the toll her illness
is taking on her. Haviland Morris
is a gentle and loving Irenie, an
outsider a bit like Kate. Charlotte
Bydwell and Matilda Sakamoto as
Lucy and May, respectively, are exceptional
dancers, and their fear of
facing Rose’s fate is moving. Feelings
of impending loss are new to
these young women. Rita Wolf as
Sally reveals a surprising depth
and rich emotional life, often in the
most subtle moments.
As the family tries to come to
terms with the inevitable loss of
Rose, they fall back on that all-toocontemporary
bromide “It is what
it is.” As the family quietly repeats
that, almost like a mantra, David
asks, “But what is it?” The moment
is both telling and deeply moving.
Like all of us, the Michaels are
struggling to make sense of life —
and the effort, if not the answer, is
palpable. And that’s powerful theater.
After Bryan Cranston’s Tonywinning
performance as President
Lyndon B. Johnson in “All
the Way,” which also took the
award for Best Play, the excitement
for “The Great Society,” the next
installment in the LBJ saga, was
high. Having tackled the period
from Johnson’s becoming president
after JFK’s assassination
to the passing of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964 and his winning election
that year, playwright Robert
Schenkkan took on the period
just after that monumental victory
through LBJ’s decision not to seek
a second full term.
After Cranston’s tour de force,
no lesser actor than Brian Cox was
tapped to play LBJ through some
of the greatest struggles of his
presidency — the Watts riots, his
➤ THE GREAT SOCIETY, continued on p.23
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