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Frank Scheck
MCC Theatre, New York
Through Dec. 22
One essential problem with plays dealing with
inarticulate characters is that their mindless
blathering tends to wear thin very quickly. Such
is the case in this work by acclaimed Chicago-based
playwright Rebecca Gilman, whose previous plays
(Spinning Into Butter, "Boy Gets Girl) are
marked by intelligent dialogue revolving around
provocative issues. The murderous trailer-trash
characters in The Glory of Living, on the other
hand, lack the ability to speak in complete
sentences, and ultimately, the play becomes as
bogged down as they are in their tragic, wasted lives.
Still, Glory manages to pack some punch thanks to
its evocatively grungy atmosphere; credit must go to
director Philip Seymour Hoffman and the central
performance by Anna Paquin, an Oscar-winning child
actress (1993's The Piano) who is grown up
at age 19 and making her stage debut. While her
character, Lisa, might not be able to express much,
this gifted performer can still haunt with merely a
glazed stare.
Lisa, when we first encounter her, is 15 and living
with her hooker mother, who puts up a sheet to shield
her daughter's eyes, but not her ears, from the commotion
ensued by her servicing her clients. One john brings a
friend, an ex-con named Clint (Jeffrey Donovan), who
quickly takes an interest in the girl.
By the next scene, it is apparent that the two are
married and that Lisa's chief function is to lure
and then dispose of the bodies of the young women
Clint rapes and then murders. When the normally
cooperative Lisa suddenly feels a pang of sympathy
for one such victim and impulsively calls the police,
it lands her and Clint in jail on multiple murder
charges. Her earnest but frustrated court-appointed
lawyer (David Aaron Baker) attempts to help her.
Degradation, abuse and the loss of childhood innocence
are the pervading elements of the play, which proves
difficult to take as much for its obviousness (including
the ironic title) as its bleakness. Although it ups the
ante in terms of brutality as it goes along, the tenor
becomes apparent from the first scene, and little that
follows proves surprising.
Still, as staged powerfully by Hoffman, the production
achieves a definite pungency, with Michelle Malavet's
supremely tacky sets and the authentic performances
adding to the effect. Donovan is very effective as
the abusive Clint, well conveying his character's
monstrousness but also revealing hints of vulnerability
underneath. And Paquin, at times clutching a toy piano
that serves as an unintentional reminder of her screen
debut, combines childishness with sensuality to chilling
effect.
THE GLORY OF LIVING
Presented by the MCC Theatre
Playwright:Rebecca Gilman
Director:Philip Seymour Hoffman
Scenic designer:Michelle Malavet
Costume designer:Mimi O'Donnell
Lighting designer:James Vermeulen
Original music/sound designer:David Van Tieghem
Cast:
Lisa:Anna Paquin
Clint:Jeffrey Donovan
Carl:David Aaron Baker
Jim/Policeman No. 1/Hugh/Guard:Myk Watford
Jeanette/Transcriber:Erika Rolfsrud
The Hollywood Reporter, November 29, 2001
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