‘The Country House’ explores familiar territory

MATRIARCH OF THE ‘HOUSE’: Blythe Danner in ‘Country House.’ Photo: Joan Marcus

THE COUNTRY HOUSE
By Donald Margulies
Directed by Daniel Sullivan
Through November 9, 2014
Manhattan Theatre Club
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
461 West 47th Street, (212-239-6200)
www.ManhattanTheatreClub.org

By Scott Harrah

Things seem familiar in this comedic drama by Donald Margulies (Time Stands Still) about a showbiz family gathering in a country home near Williamstown, Massachusetts, headed by matriarch/aging actress Anna Patterson (Blythe Danner), and for good reason. Mr. Margulies, a Pulitzer Prize winner, knows how to create dramatic tension with his crisp dialogue and numerous plot twists, but unfortunately he relies too much on half-baked ideas we’ve seen elsewhere, particularly in the rural, angst-ridden epics of Anton Chekhov. There are many great lines and a few outstanding performances, but also little substance or originality in The Country House.

Anna is about to start rehearsals for a summer stock production of Mrs. Warren’s Profession during the town’s annual Theatre Festival. Her Yalie granddaughter, Susie (Sarah Steele), has just arrived from school, still mourning the death of her famous actress mom, Kathy, from cancer.

Susie’s father is Walter Keegan (David Rasche), a Hollywood director, who is engaged to the glamorous Nell (Kate Jennings Grant). Susie is upset that her father is going to marry so soon after her mother’s death. Meanwhile, her uncle, Elliot (Eric Lange), is overwrought because he once had the hots for Nell when the two of them did a show in Louisville years earlier.

In addition, all the women lust and pine over longtime family friend and hunky TV star, Michael Astor (Daniel Sunjata). This rather silly subplot reeks more of soapy melodrama than Chekhovian longing.

What happens throughout most of the play is predictable and trite. Walter whines about being too successful in L.A. and getting everything he wants. Elliot has failed as an actor, feels inadequate and is trying to write his first play. Anna isn’t sure she can memorize all the lines for Mrs. Warren’s Profession. Along the way, characters spew witty one-liners about life in the theater and show business in general because ultimately this is a story of actors, all cooped up together and being philosophical.

Blythe Danner is the star of the show, and although her Anna is elegant and sassy, her character is one of the show’s least interesting. The standouts here include Ms. Steele (“The Good Wife”), who injects a nice mix of adolescent sarcasm and vulnerability to Susie. Eric Lange is excellent as the emotionally tortured Elliot. His meltdown in the second act, when he talks of his sister’s death and reveals childhood secrets to mother Anna, is stage acting at its best.

Daniel Sullivan does an admirable job directing everyone. John Lee Beatty’s set is impressive. There is indeed a lot of talent on the stage, so it’s a shame The Country House, despite some wry observations about the acting world, says so very little.

A MOTHER’S TOUCH: (left to right) Kate Jennings Grant, Daniel Sunjata & Blythe Danner. Photo: Joan Marcus

GRANDMOTHER & GRANDDAUGHTER: Blythe Danner & Sarah Steele. Photo: Joan Marcus

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 6, 2014
Reviewed at press performance on October 5, 2014