Ally Sheedy and Brian Lally play the parents of a son imprisoned for rape in THE LONG SHRIFT (photo © Joan Marcus)
THE LONG SHRIFT
Rattlestick Playwrights Theater
224 Waverly Pl. between Eleventh & Perry Sts.
Thursday – Tuesday through August 23, $20-$30
866-811-4111
www.rattlestick.org
It would be easy to give short shrift to The Long Shrift, the latest project in James Franco’s seemingly endless though admirable quest to rule the world. The play was written by one of his grad school professors (Robert Boswell) and stars a former girlfriend (Ahna O’Reilly) as well as a pair of longtime collaborators (Scott Haze and Brian Lally); Franco, who is currently portraying George in Anna D. Shapiro’s powerful Broadway revival of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men at the Longacre, is even on the Long Shrift promotional poster, joining the cast and Boswell. But there’s much to appreciate in the Rattlestick world premiere, which opened July 13 and runs through August 23, and not just its price, which tops out at a mere thirty bucks. Novelist, short story writer, and playwright Boswell’s (The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards, The Geography of Desire) intermissionless hundred-minute drama takes too many unnecessary detours, leaving Franco to scramble, but the heart of the work is deeply compelling and involving. The story begins in 1999 as Vietnam veteran Henry Singer (a soft-spoken Lally) and his younger wife, Sarah (an underutilized Ally Sheedy), are moving into a small, disappointing new home in Houston so they can be closer to their son, Richie (Haze, who is solid if one-note here but gives a remarkable performance in Franco’s Cormac McCarthy adaptation Child of God,), who has recently begun serving a ten-year sentence for raping and beating one of his high school classmates, Lizzie (O’Reilly). While Henry is convinced that his son is innocent, Sarah is not so sure and, deeply conflicted, chooses not to visit Richie. After Richie’s been in prison for five years, accuser Lizzie (who’s now calling herself Beth, seeking escape from her notoriety) suddenly recants her testimony, becoming a town pariah. On the day of their tenth high school reunion, Beth unexpectedly shows up at Richie’s house, accompanied by giddy current student body president Macy (Allie Gallerani), who is determined to get Richie, whom she considers a local celebrity, to be the star of the reunion she’s in charge of, which she sees as a real resume builder. But the bitter Richie doesn’t want anything to do with Beth, until he comes up with a plan that is not about to make everything right.
Richie (Scott Haze) and Macy (Allie Gallerani) discuss reunion plans and more in Rattlestick world premiere of THE LONG SHRIFT (photo © Joan Marcus)
The central crisis of what really happened behind closed doors a decade ago drives the overly talky show, which is hampered by inconsistent pacing and stretches credulity when it comes to the reunion subplot. Although Gallerani (My Children! My Africa!) is utterly delightful as Macy, all smiley, sexy, and full of hope, it feels like she’s walked in from a completely different play. A late reveal of a key part of the relationship between Harry and Sarah seems forced and needlessly detrimental, and the one scene that does not take place on Andromarche Chalfant’s effective home interior set (which closely resembles a cleaned-up version of Dane Laffrey’s set for the previous Rattlestick show, The Few) borders on the edge of cringeworthy. But when Boswell and Franco zero in on Richie and Beth as they explore their inner demons and try to deal with a complex and heartbreaking past, The Long Shrift rewards your attention.