Great Barrington Public Theater in Great Barrington
Written by Robin Gerber
Directed by Matthew Penn
“It burst into my brain when I decided to try stand-up comedy.”
Robin Gerber has written a very personal one-person play about her life and her husband’s illness, Parkinson’s disease. Unlike so many other plays of this type that have shown up this season, she is not playing herself. Instead, a wonderful actress, Caroline Aaron, has come to play her (now named Rachel, though that is unnecessary information) and tell Gerber’s story in both a comedic and dramatic fashion. Gerber had long dreamed of becoming a stand-up comedian, à la Joan Rivers, but she had never given herself the chance. Then at age 72, after she had transformed into a “caregiver” for her ailing husband of 32 years, they both decided that it would be fine for her to take a comedy class. When the teacher turned her intentions away from her mother’s story to her own difficult tale of life, things dynamically changed for her. That is what we hear about, and witness, in the play “The Best Medicine,” now having its world premiere on the former campus of Bard College at Simon’s Rock, produced by Great Barrington Public Theater.
On a basically bare stage in a simple costume under emotionally charged lighting designed by Lara Dubin, Aaron relates the story of Rachel’s life with clarity and with the intense humor of a professional comedienne. Her lengthy monologue is not an extended joke but rather an honest retelling of Gerber’s own story as she lived it. It is an honesty that stings. It hurts. It offers one woman’s solution. When she is funny, she is truly funny. But when she is serious about her story, she is deliberate and honest and, at times, overwhelming.
There are a few minutes in this new play that I think could be cut without losing anything. Sometimes too many details are frustrating and a tiny bit boring. Those happen late in the play. But the author, director, and actress bring the play back around to complete it with warmth and laughter.
Juliana von Haubrich continues her season of appropriate set design with the simplicity of her work on this piece. The stage is literally an open space with a microphone, some chairs, a rack of costumes, and a few other objects that define the place as a working stage. That stage has become Rachel’s refuge. It is a place where she can be as comfortable as possible with her situation. For a new comic, Rachel has nowhere to go but up, and up she comes. Nothing distracts from her work.
Director Matthew Penn has clearly worked closely with the script Gerber has provided. Every moment has the proper impact. Rachel’s choices of where to stand, when to sit, what to do to make her points has been perfectly choreographed with the actress. He has presumably guided Caroline Aaron in her choices of emphasis and simplicity. The play physically moves along with the honest work of this team of creatives. The end result is dynamic theater from an honest relating of a simple story that has its own set of difficulties in the telling.
George W. Veale VI had so many possible looks to use for this play, but his simple costume is probably the finest choice he could make. The color of Rachel’s shirt brings Aaron’s facial expressions to the fore perfectly. Aaron can be beautiful, and Aaron can be plain, but as Rachel, she is exquisitely emotional, and that shows in her face even when it is not present in her words. The costume helps her in this regard. The same can be said for Monk Schane-Lydon’s sound design, which adds a new dimension to subtlety. Jordan Schwarz’s projection design is wonderful and not to be missed at the end of the play. Please stay in your seats for it. Life intrudes on the theatricality of the show and makes its own points.
I am not, as my usual readers know, a fan of one-person plays, but this one has special qualities that overcome my dislike of the form. For one thing, it is an actress, not the author, on stage and this is a good actress. For another thing, the topic is so unusual, so hard to resist, that the intrigue never lags. The play is this company’s third world premiere of the season, and that alone should be enough to bring in a curious audience. It worked for me.
“The Best Medicine” plays at the Daniel Arts Center at Simon’s Rock in Great Barrington through August 17. For information and tickets, visit Great Barrington Public Theater’s website or call (413) 372-1980.
