Appropriate
APPROPRIATE by Branden Jacobs-Jennings directed by Lila Neugebauer: I fidget a lot at the theatre because of my knee and, this trip, a sore shoulder from taking the wrong computer bag. During the first act of Branden Jacobs-Jennings searing, often blisteringly funny portrait of American life at its worst, I barely moved. And when Sarah Paulson dove into one of her many beautifully played tirades, I had to remind myself to breathe. I wish I could say the same for the second act, but I think the first scene could use some judicious pruning. It just feels more like making points and marking time until the big eruptions in the next scene. Paulson is Toni, a bitter divorcee who’s spent most of her life caring for a family that’s drifted away. One brother (Corey Stoll) is a businessman consumed by his life in New York. Another (Michael Esper) has a history of drug addiction and various crimes, great and small. With her father’s death, she’s trying to settle the estate, a dilapidated, overstuffed former plantation in Arkansas. Complicating matters are the presence of Esper’s spiritual girlfriend (Ella Beatty), charges of anti-Semitism from Stoll’s wife (Natalie Gold) and the discovery of racist memorabilia among daddy’s belongings. Did he collect them or were they just left behind by the previous owners? Most of the cast does solid work, with particularly strong support from Stoll, though Esper had projection problems. Nor does it help that he’s settled with a lengthy monolog at the wrong point in the play. It’s not just that you keep losing lines; you may wonder why nobody tells him to get to the point. The insertion of the racism question adds another level to the play. As the family try to justify daddy’s behavior, the play creates a great dialog with AMERICAN ROT, my Friday night piece. Is saying “those were different times” enough to let someone off the hook? And were they really that different?
