George Morfogen and Philip Goodwin(photo credit: Richard Termine)
It may take a long time, exactly the entire first act (of
three) to bring us into the superb and commendably civilized core of N.C.
Hunter’s play, but the rewards in the remaining two-thirds are considerable.
Some may see its exposition as a direct link to Anton Chekhov, but what is
wrong with that considering the story that unfolds has a resonance that speaks
as much to a then as it does to its now which for the play is England in 1953.
The Mint Theater needs no more accolades than it has already been given as we
are once again being treated to a beautifully acted and well-staged vintage play
that might not ordinarily get an airing.
Here is another from Hunter’s canon that like the previous
play of his produced by the Mint a few years back - “A Picture of Autumn” has a
civility and an elegance to lend considerable balance its unsettling heart-breaking
story. It is set at the seaside summer residence of the Anson family for which
the designer James Morgan has created with a minimum of effort and a maximum of
taste. In it, a compulsively responsible careerist Julian Anson (Julian Elfer) is suddenly and unexpectedly immersed
in a mid-career and mid-life crises, one that soon unwittingly embroils the
family group around him.
Without histrionics, there is turbulence afoot soon enough
with the arrival of an officer from the personnel department of the foreign
office Humphrey Caldwell (Sean Gormley) whose news to Julian is not good. That
it shatters Julian’s image of himself, a life and a career that he thought was
assured, serves as a key to unlocking and revealing the dashed hopes and dreams
of those around him. Most prominently among others whose lives also appear to be
gracefully or not unraveling are the aptly critical and judgmental family
matriarch Laura Hanson (Jill Tanner), her
ailing brother-in-law (George Morfogen), his resident alcoholic caregiver (Philip
Goodwin) and the most romantically conflicted Frances Farrar (Katie Firth) who was
raised as Laura’s ward, married twice with two children and once in love with
the totally clueless Julian.
Under the precise but not too precious direction of Austin
Pendelton, the splendid cast has plenty to say that not only pricks our ears put
brings us into the heartland of a family, a culture and a society that knows what
it means to carry on. Elfer is terrific
as the guy who gave too little thought to his love and too much dedication to his
a job. The always fine Morfogen almost steals scenes by not speaking much but
saying plenty. For the others who have lots to say, let us say they express it with
finesse, a trait that is sorely missing in many a newer play. So pleased that the
phrase “out with the old and in with the new” has no place at the Mint.
“A Day by the Sea” (through November 5)
Mint Theater at the Beckett Theatre, 410 West 42nd Street.
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