Things I Know to be True
Great Barrington Public Theatre in Great Barrington
Written by Andrew Bovell, directed by Judy Braha
“I just want to love and be loved.”
Heavy duty family issues overwhelm the drama now on stage in the Daniel Arts Center at Bard College at Simon’s Rock in Great Barrington. Australia-based playwright Andrew Bovell takes on a family of six dealing with the challenges that face the parents as each adult child chooses to find his or her own way in life. These challenges basically all include a departure from the security of home which, naturally, proves not to be so secure after all. This lower middle-class family is headed by Bob and Fran Price, a blue-collar worker and a nurse, played movingly by John Wojda and Corinna May. The destruction-of-family tale is told by their youngest daughter, Rosie, played by Raya Malcolm, who opens the play with a lengthy, personal monologue which has her in Berlin, and it ends with an equally long monologue set in the family home in middle America. Her second speech firmly reinforces the concept of this story being told from her perspective. It is her story to tell, but it is really the story of her mother, Fran.
Fran makes the tale tellable, the play playable, the drama dramatic. Fran knows things that the others don’t and keeps council with herself until those inevitable moments when she lets loose and her hubris shows, or shines out. Tragedy, it would seem, is not solely the property of kings or impassioned young lovers doomed to die with a final kiss. Tragedy for the Price family comes to grips with each of them at different moments and the tragedy exists solely in how Fran reacts to the real-life situations that occur in this lengthy family ordeal.
Lest you think I didn’t like this play, let me say that it is one of the best of the season, and I loved it. Bovell gives us plenty to think about during the course of the long play, and, as a very human drama, it is often too much to consider, too much to remember. At the conclusion of the legnthy first act, oldest son Mark has his confrontation with his parents. He has made a life choice that doesn’t sit well with either parent, but it is his mother who takes up the cudgel that threatens their futures. Jo Michael Rezes plays the young man with gender identity struggles and his utter sincerity playing this scene makes them a standout in the play. The scene also takes him out of the action, much like his sister Pip’s scene earlier in the act did for her. Pip is played by Liz Hayes as almost boyish which makes her romance seem a bit less likely.
Younger brother Ben falls victim to his very human hunger for wealth and power. Played by David Keohane, Ben is a hysteric who cannot keep it together long enough to tell his parents his story. Unlike her take on Mark’s problem, Fran undertakes Ben’s with a verve that disturbs her relationship with her husband. This ultimately leads to their own confrontation as well. With so much going on at the same time, it is director Judy Braha who holds things together, focusing us on each moment’s prominent figures while allowing onlookers in the play to take their own routes through the chaos.
This is sturdy drama played with conviction by the cast under Braha’s decisive direction. They work on a fine set designed by Juliana von Haubrich in perfect costumes courtesy of Brittney Belz. Matthew Adelson’s evocative lighting design provides Isadora Wolfe the chance to create set changes that are illuminating. This is very good theatre that had me laughing and mostly crying as May and Wojda move their characters through the comedy of life. It is so worth seeing.
“Things I Know to be True” plays at the Daniel Arts Center through August 14. For information and tickets call 413-528-0684 or go to the theater’s website.
See a trailer of the play below, courtesy of Great Barrington Public Theater.
