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Feast
By Aline Lathrop
Directed by Kimberly Senior
At Chicago Dramatists
1105 W. Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL
Call 312-633-0630, tickets $22 - $28
Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 pm
Sundays at 3 pm
Running time is 2 hours with intermission
Through February 18, 2007
Family secrets dominate smart kitchen sink drama
Chicago Dramatists is “The Playwrights’ Theatre:” a place where talented writers get help developing their craft. Resident Playwright Aline Lathrop’s World Premiere, Feast, is a fresh family drama that delves into the life of a family with a past that strongly affects their present take on life and personal relationships. I enjoyed this fine work that features stinging dialogue, strong acting and quirky characters in a well though out plot.
The story deals with matriarch Christine (Marguerite Hammersley) who fell in love with a soldier 24 years earlier. Their love produced twins, Billy (Erik Hellman), the favored son and Jen (Alice Wedoff), the rebellious live-at-home daughter. Featuring on a remarkable set design (by the talented Brian Sidney Bembridge) depicting a kitchen with arched roof suggesting a country farm house.
Thanksgiving finds Billy returning from Boston with a surprise for Christine, his mother--- a wife, Nina (Jennifer Avery). Mother is furious that her favorite son got married to a 35 year old (he is 23) without her knowledge. She dreamed he’d return home now that his schooling is finished. Billy responds by doting over mother while ignoring his new bride even to the extend that he’ll not have sex with her in his mother’s house. This doesn’t bode well for a long marriage.
Christine spends each day reliving her fantasy of a lost love with her shrine to the soldier/lover with a crumpled rose, his army hat and his last letter before disappearing. Mother also drives her daughter Jen to new levels of antagonism as she often states how much she regrets that Jen was born. Jen acts out in a nasty game of one-upmanship that finds Christine inviting Mack (Jeff Christian), a fellow high school teacher friend of hers to the Thanksgiving dinner.
As the tension boils over at the holiday feast, Billy and Nina become strained, Jen successfully seduces Mack. We learn a secret about the lost father that casts a shadow toward the twins’ relationship with their mother. The story’s finest moments of conflict are presented with humor, believable awkward moments with touching pictures emerging as each of the character’s deepest secrets are revealed. As director Kimberly Senior states: “Feast challenges all of us to re-examine family myths and memories through a fractured and nostalgic lens. What are left is both comic and heartbreaking.”
I especially like Marguerite Hammersley’s delusional take on Christine and Alice Wedoff’s sexy Jen. Erik Hellman and Jennifer Avery were effective as Billy and Nina and Jeff Christian delivered a subdued Mack. Nice work from all.
Aline Lathrop’s dialogue is eloquently polished revealing a full understanding of the human condition. Feast is worthy addition of the long list of outstanding works incubated at Chicago Dramatists.
Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: January 19, 2007
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