‘THE HEIGHT OF THE STORM’: Eileen Atkins & Jonathan Pryce. Photo: Joan Marcus

THE HEIGHT OF THE STORM
Written by Florian Zeller
Translated by Christopher Hampton
Directed by Jonathan Kent
Through November 24, 2019
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
261 West 47th Street
(212-239-6200),www.manhattantheatreclub.com

By David NouNou

Florian Zeller is a French novelist and playwright whose previous plays include The Father (which played at the Samuel J. Friedman in 2016, with a Tony Award-winning performance from Frank Langella). Earlier this year, Isabelle Huppert was in Mr. Zeller’s The Mother Off Broadway. There is a thread that runs through Mr. Zeller’s plays where death and dementia play a major character. From a pretentious standpoint, it is equivalent to a haunting character that comes in and goes out between scenes, but stripped from the haunting aspect, it is a deep and disturbing reality that all the elderly and their families face together.

Set in present-day Paris in a house in the country, Andre (Jonathan Pryce) is in a dazed and agitated state and is staring out the kitchen window while his older daughter, Anne (Amanda Drew) is going over his papers and discussing what to do with his diaries while he remains mute. She also brings forward the fact that he unable to live alone in this big house, when Madeline (Eileen Atkins) Andre’s wife of 50 years walks in, with their younger daughter Elise (Lisa O’Hare). She goes on preparing mushrooms for lunch, and Andre goes over the ingredients for this delightful dish that they substituted for meat. This conversation goes on for a while where we have to decide which one of them is dead, is it Andre or Madeline?

It becomes frustrating deciphering these scenes, because every time it goes in one direction, the other character pops up. It’s Mr. Zeller’s way of showing us how people with dementia deal with death and family. He plays these two subjects almost as ghosts. The subject matter is heady and so many families face these problems every day.

What grounds this thin 80-minute drama is the nuanced performance of Eileen Atkins as Madeline, the strong, indomitable force that anchors Andre throughout their 50-year marriage. She is willful, and for all intents and purposes, the proverbial “last man” standing.

Jonathan Pryce gives another powerful performance; his agitated state, his rambling repetitious sentences are heartbreaking and terrifying. Although he was the personality in the marriage, in the longer run he is the terrified and weaker of the two. Their performances give life to the memory of a powerful subject, overshadowing and outliving an otherwise weak play of gimmicks.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published September 26, 2019
Reviewed at September 25, 2019 press performance.

‘THE HEIGHT OF THE STORM’: Eileen Atkins & Jonathan Pryce. Photo: Hugo Glendenning

‘THE HEIGHT OF THE STORM’: Eileen Atkins & Jonathan Pryce. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE HEIGHT OF THE STORM’: Jonathan Pryce. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE HEIGHT OF THE STORM’: Eileen Atkins. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE HEIGHT OF THE STORM’: Jonathan Pryce. Photo: Joan Marcus

The post ‘The Height of the Storm’: Cloudy but powerful appeared first on StageZine.

‘THE FATHER’: Frank Langella & Kathryn Erbe. Photo: Joan Marcus

THE FATHER
Written by Florian Zeller
Translated by Christopher Hampton
Directed by Doug Hughes
Through June 12, 2016
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
261 West 47th Street
(212-239-6200), www.manhattantheatreclub.com

By David Nounou

To say The Father is a harrowing play is an understatement. The uniqueness of this play is we are ultimately viewing it from the perspective of the person with dementia and not from the usual perspective of family, relatives or caregivers. For anyone who has had to deal with a parent, spouse, loved one or friend, from the onset of dementia to finally succumbing to it, is a horrific ordeal. However, Florian Zeller, the French playwright, has made this disease into an unforgettable theatrical experience

We see Andre (Frank Langella) in his deluxe Paris apartment rebuking his daughter, Anne (Kathryn Erbe) for suggesting that he should have someone look after him during the day. He accuses his former caregiver of stealing his watch so he threw her out. Anne tells and proves to Andre that the caregiver did not steal his watch, but he hid it himself in the kitchen cupboard. Andre is constantly demanding to see his other daughter, Elise and why doesn’t she come to visit him, and so the journey in the mind begins.

There are a lot of twists and turns in The Father that would be criminal to divulge. Suffice it to say it is one of the most riveting plays on Broadway this year. What gives it that additional suspense is the impeccable performance by Frank Langella. When we first see his Andre all dressed and pressed in his living room, we almost believe by his forth righteousness that it is Anne who is scheming to put him away. Watching Mr. Langella–first as a charming bastion of strength to the bitter end as layer after layer of his sanity being peeled away–is watching one of the most magnificent performances of the year.

Miss Erbe’s Anne is sympathetic and caring; she does her best to take care of Andre even at the expense of her own she relationship with Pierre (Brian Evers) who suggests putting him in a care facility. They both give fine performances but the attention is always on Mr. Langella.

The one distraction of the play is the lights that flash at the audience to indicate scene changes; when you have such a heavy subject, those lights become a nuisance. Doug Hughes, the director, should have softened the distracting light effect because it takes away from the tension and the drama created on the stage. However, due to Mr. Langella’s superior performance we overcome this obstacle.

Through Mr. Zeller’s interpretation and Mr. Langella’s performance, we see dementia in a new light; not as observing the patient with this disease, but seeing events that might have happened a day ago or a minute ago through the eyes of the patient and the moment-to-moment ordeals they face on a daily basis.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 18, 2016
Reviewed at performance on April 17, 2016

‘THE FATHER’: Frank Langella & Hannah Cabbell. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE FATHER’: Frank Langella. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE FATHER’: Frank Langella. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE FATHER’: Kathryn Erbe & Frank Langella. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE FATHER’: Kathryn Erbe & Frank Langella. Photo: Joan Marcus

The post Frank Langella shines in ‘The Father’ appeared first on StageZine.