Thoughts on The Country House

I know I have previously mentioned how much I love a Donald Margulies play - I just love his use of dialogue and language, his realistic characters and the way he crafts his plays.  Of course, he's also a very lovely person so that might color my opinion, but only just a little.  When TDF offered discounted tickets to the second preview of his new play, The Country House, I, of course, pounced.  Since I saw only the second preview, I'll offer just a few thoughts, since I'm sure changes will be made before the show opens next month.

The Country House is about a family of actors/artists who gather in the family home in the Berkshires on the first anniversary of a beloved family member's death.  Everyone is still grieving the loss and one of the things I liked best about the play is how I felt the loss of that character myself.  There was a palpable sense of someone not being there, and that someone was the one who kept this rather dysfunctional family together.  Without her, everyone was spinning off-center and the play depicts them trying to find their balance again.

Blythe Danner is the matriarch of the family, a famous actress who is returning to work (at the Williamstown Theatre Festival) for the first time since the loss of her daughter.  Danner, who is just seriously gorgeous onstage, is wonderful playing all the layers of this woman.  Vain, shallow, talented, loving, and oh so smart - Danner hits all the right notes.  And she also plays the comedy in the piece beautifully.  Really, everyone in the cast is terrific, but I was most taken with Sarah Steele, who plays Danner's granddaughter, still grieving for her dead mother.  Steele is the only one in this artistic family who has rejected the artistic life and her clear-eyed view of her overly-dramatic family members is very smartly portrayed.

photo credit: Michael Lamont

There were a few stumbles over lines, but the show is in excellent shape for such an early preview.  The dialogue in the play ranges from breezy comedy to drop-dead-serious drama and the actors handle the changes very well.  There are so many laugh-out loud lines, I wish I could remember every one of them.  I loved how very contemporary ideas about theater, movies, celebrity and family were all played with elan by the entire cast.  If I have a quibble with one of the characters and his story arc, well, so be it.  I mean, I do know people like this particular character, but that didn't help with my frustration.  Or my quibble.  And maybe that was just me BECAUSE I know people like this character.  Who knows?  I actually vacillated back and forth over understanding him and being frustrated by him.  Maybe that was the point.  Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, I don't know.  I was very moved by the end of the play, and kept thinking about it all the way home, so maybe I wasn't as frustrated as I thought...

The set is fantastic - of course it looks like the summer house of an acting family and I want to move in immediately. I thought the lighting was great and the original music by Peter Golub was very provocative yet engaging.  The audience really seemed to be having a great time, so I hope The Country House will be a big fat hit.  Once again, Donald has captured me with his smart dialogue and characters, and his real affection for them and his acknowledgement of their emotional lives.  I really enjoyed myself at the play and hope I can see it again later in the run. 

[the cast photo is from the Geffen Playhouse production of this play from earlier this year.  the cast is mainly the same.]