They are a rowdy lot, the Blake family, as they meet for Thanksgiving dinner on the small stage at the Old Fitz Theatre. They know how to fill a room with their lightly weaponized bonhomie, the jabs and pokes of long acquaintance and the love, the centrepiece of their dinner table, the love. With an ensemble cast of excellence THE HUMANS from MopHead Productions, in association with Red Line Productions, is a bright, high energy affair for sure but I yearned for the dark, the mystic, the bog and the mist of this Irish bred clan. For me, it is that which gives body to the purely narrative in this Pulitzer nominated, Tony winning, script by Stephen Karam.
Brigid is hosting the celebration this Thanksgiving. She and boyfriend, Richard, have moved into an apartment in the run down Chinatown area of Manhattan. The fact that these pair are without the benefit of marriage is merely one of the issues that concern her parents Deirdre and Erik who arrive from Scranton with ‘Momo’, Erik’s dementia suffering mother.
Joining them is Aimee, their other daughter, a lawyer who gives every indication of being very unwell. Through the parents’ eyes we will see what is lost when the children move away from family, religion and working class moralities. And during the course of the evening, this family under pressure will become more unstable and distant from each other despite the evident boisterousness and verve of their well-practiced interactions.
This production of THE HUMANS places itself in raucous mode early as the family arrive in the small apartment. Director Anthea Williams energetically explores the family dynamics in the early scenes. It’s very enjoyable to engage with the Blakes but respite is needed and seldom granted, which limits opportunities for build or undulation. There is a moment of eating when the volatile natures settle and it is relieving, yet, stilted and silent. Then they get into it again. With the directorial focus on the family, as well acted as it is, the metaphysical is hard to grasp and as these elements appeared in the text, I really craved to immerse in them. The old fashioned Irish ghost story did not emerge through the fog of family for me.
But the family is undisputedly well portrayed. Especially engrossing is the siblings’ relationship and Madeleine Jones as Brigid and Eloise Snape as Aimee bring a warm, fragile fluidity to their interactions with each other, the past is on clear display as is their concern for each other in the present. Snape holds under the more cutting of Aimee’s lines to give a nicely balanced comic and wry performance and Jones’ brittle disappointments inside Brigid, despite her outward display, are so well expressed. And mitigated by the loving relationship with Richard (Reza Momenzada) who gives us a rich, subtle depiction of ‘the other’. An open man trying to find his way in the cacophony.
It is only late in the play that we understand the forces which are forging the loudness of Di Adams’ Deirdre. Adams is pinpoint here, with her faithful heart slowed by loss and the disappointments arousing an empathetic and emotional engagement from the viewer. Those forces are also at play in the portrayal of Erik by Arky Michael. Whatever is chewing at him expresses itself in bursts and Michael develops his characterization with glints and nuance. A word now for the remarkable work of Diana McLean as Momo. Anyone touched by the disease of Alzheimer’s sees the research and intelligence behind such a representation. Mclean’s work is not just moving but theatrically vital to the personalisation of, and our sympathetic engagement with, the Blake family.
THE HUMANS is a difficult show to stage. The requirement for two floors, the need for lighting which will gloom to allow emergence of otherworldly themes and audio which foregrounds the unworldly. The tech here was unsatisfying for me. The audio (Clemmie Williams) too realistic, the lighting (Kelsey Lee) too practical and static and the setting (Jonathan Hindmarsh ) too undistressed and cramped for useable space.
Yet, however close this cast may get to the front row seating they never waver in their focus and commitment to storytelling and there is so much to admire about the ensemble’s work that THE HUMANS is a show worth seeing.
THE HUMANS from from MopHead Productions [Facebook], in association with Red Line Productions [Facebook] continues at the Old Fitz Theatre until October 6.
