Review - Cost of Living

I've been hearing about playwright Martyna Majok for quite a while and have been looking forward to checking out her work. A friend had seen Cost of Living in an out-of-town production and had highly recommended it to me, knowing that I'm an advocate for, and have a huge interest in, the disability community, along with being a huge fan of new plays.  Happily, Manhattan Theatre Club's production had discount tickets available for last night and off I went.

Cost of Living is about four characters, two of whom are disabled, but all of them are needy, complicated and fascinating.  One pairing is Jess, an educated woman working many odd jobs to make ends meet, and John, a well-to-do PhD candidate at Princeton, who has cerebral palsy.  He needs a caregiver to help him out in the mornings before classes.  Jess needs the job for the money, but as we watch the two get to know each other, we begin to wonder...  The other pairing is Eddie, formerly a long-distance truck driver who can't drive anymore due to his alcoholism, and Ani, his soon-to-be ex-wife who has suffered a catastrophic accident and is now a quadriplegic amputee and in a wheelchair.

All four characters are beautifully drawn - their quirks, their strengths and their weaknesses are very well-written.  The two relationships are very different, yet similar - one pairing is of strangers becoming comfortable with each other, and one pairing is of a couple already torn apart and getting to know each other again under completely different circumstances. I thought both relationships were completely realistic and the struggles were compelling to watch. 

photo credit: Joan Marcus

When you think of a play about disability, you probably have one kind of a play in mind, but Cost of Living was completely unexpected to me.  Not only did it deal with disability in a rather matter-of-fact way (just seeing day-to-day struggles presented with no comment was valuable), but issues of class and race and haves/have nots were also on display right alongside.  No one person is any one thing.  The way the play depicted all of the characters as human, with egos and faults and prejudices - not saintly because of their disabilities, or stupid because of their station in life - was terrific. And the play was terrifically funny at times as well. I don't want to say too much about plot because I think experiencing this play with no preconceived notions will be a good thing.

photo credit: Joan Marcus

The acting was fantastic - all four performers were willing to be completely naked, literally and figuratively, showing us pain and loneliness, alongside the need to connect to someone, to not feel alone. Three of the actors were previously known to me, but one of the performers, Katy Sullivan, was new to me and she was a revelation.  I hope to see her in many more productions, because her blend of raw anger with pitch-perfect comic timing was really bracingly authentic. And then the subtle sexuality of the scene between her character, Ani, and her ex-husband Eddie (played beautifully by Victor Williams, whose opening monologue drew me in at once) was fantastic - add to that the sudden knowledge of the realistic danger in Ani's new life...wow.  So powerful. The other two actors, Jolly Abraham and Gregg Mozgala, were also fantastic.

Here is a tiny spoiler: the two relationships take place in different times, which isn't readily apparent at first, it takes a few minutes to figure it out, which took me out of the play a little bit, but once I got on board, it was fine.  And the last scene took me someplace I never would've expected to go, which was awesome.  I love a play that upends stereotypes and defies expectations.  So I highly recommend Cost of Living - I hope it's the first in a long line of productions for the playwright and for the disabled performers who don't always get the chance to play such well-rounded, authentic characters.  And in the words of my seat neighbor, "Oh my goodness, wasn’t that great?  But it was too short!  I want to see more!"  Me too.