NEW YORK—An unusual and evocative play by Jenny Schwartz, God's Ear deals with a couple faced with the drowning death of their young son. At the opening the mother, Mel (Christina Kirk), is hoping against hope that the boy might survive. He is beginning to lose vital signs, but still… Her husband, Ted (Gibson Frazier), is in even stronger denial. He criticizes the doctors for being vague and refuses to face facts.
Both of them mask their true feelings in language that obscures rather than expresses their pain. Could the terrible accident have been their fault? That possibility is never brought up, except to mention that another mother recently turned her head for a moment, and her child died.
But in this play it is the language rather than the factual events that compel the viewer's attention. It is poetical yet not poetry; it has a musicality but manages to convey the content of the events. Rhythm and tone are very much a part of this offering.
Things are encountered that are seemingly not a part of the real world as most of us experience it. On a plane trip Ted encounters a transvestite steward who carries a large pistol (Matthew Montelongo). Yet this vividly attired person is not threatening but is rather amusing.
Mel is visited by The Tooth Fairy (Judith Greentree), wearing a rather outlandish costume, which includes lacy stockings, and replete with sheer wings. She doesn't speak but simply looks on with a gentle, bemused expression.
Mel and Ted's young daughter, Lanie (played winningly by Monique Vukovic), fails to grasp the seriousness of the situation and the fact that she will never see her brother again. Quite amazed to hear that he has been placed in the ground, she constantly badgers her mother for attention like any child. But, Lanie in fact appears to be more grounded in reality than her parents. She doesn't see strange people.
Rebecca Wisocky and Raymond McAnally round out the excellent cast.
Playwright Schwartz, although a director herself, has stated that she prefers not to involve herself in the actual physical concept of the play, but to leave that aspect to her director and the design team. In this, Schwartz has been adeptly aided by the sensitive work of director Anne Kauffman. In addition, Kris Stone's set design augments the tenuousness of the world inhabited by the characters.
Some characters seem to rise out of the floor; The Tooth Fairy enters by a raised staircase. Costumes by Olivera Gajic echo the director's intentions. Delicate songs by Michael Friedman (additional lyrics by Jenny Schwartz) occasionally waft through.
God's Ear is a delicate play, dealing with human pain and grief in an unconventional but meaningful way.
God's Ear
Vineyard Theatre
108 East 15th Street
Tickets: 212-353-0303 or boxoffice@vineyardtheatre.org
Closes May 18th
Diana Barth writes and publishes New Millennium, an arts newsletter. For further information: diabarth@juno.com
Feeds