Martin (Michael Crane) doesn’t quite understand Emil’s (Joe Tippett) relationship with Irene (Holley Fain) in THIS DAY FORWARD (photo by Carol Rosegg)
Vineyard Theatre
108 East 15th St. at Irving Pl.
Tuesday – Sunday through December 18, $79-$100
212-353-0303
www.vineyardtheatre.org
Philadelphia-born New York City-based playwright Nicky Silver again explores the craziness of a dysfunctional family, and especially its matriarch, in his latest work, This Day Forward, continuing at the Vineyard through December 18. The first act takes place in 1958 in a room at the St. Regis, where the erudite Martin (Michael Crane) is excited about consummating his marriage to the seemingly beautiful, proper, and ditzy Irene (Holley Fain). However, Irene has a secret that she is frightened to reveal to Martin. “Irene, listen to me. I’m your husband and I love you. You can tell me anything. I’m your safe place. Your harbor,” the kind and caring Martin says. “Whatever it is you want to tell me, whatever you’ve done, or haven’t done, whatever it is, you can tell me. You can trust me. Always. You can tell me. Tell me.” She finally tells him, and it’s not a secret that makes him very happy, as it involves a gas station worker named Emil (Joe Tippett). Soon the maid, Melka (June Gable), and the bellboy, Donald (Andrew Burnap), get implicated in the madness and mayhem as Irene, Martin, and Emil try to figure out what happens next. The second act jumps ahead to 2004 to an oh-so-contemporary tasteful apartment in New York City, where Noah (Crane) is living with the younger Leo (Burnap). A film director considering working in television, Noah is awaiting the arrival of his sister, Sheila (Francesca Faridany), a loud, fast-talking woman who lets him know that their mother (Gable) has been growing more and more confused and disappearing. When at last everyone is together, some hard truths emerge as the results of decades of dysfunction strike deep.
Siblings Sheila (Francesca Faridany) and (Michael Crane) fight over what to do with their aging mother in new Nicky Silver play at the Vineyard (photo by Carol Rosegg)
Silver (Pterodactyls, The Food Chain), whose terrific The Lyons started at the Vineyard before transferring to Broadway in 2012, is unlikely to make the same trip with This Day Forward, which, like The Lyons, is directed by Mark Brokaw (How I Learned to Drive, Heisenberg). There are funny and poignant moments, particularly in the much better second act, but the play as a whole feels unfinished, as if it is still being workshopped. Allen Moyer’s sets are lovely — the posters on Noah’s walls of robot movies give quick insight into his character — and Kaye Voyce’s costumes, especially Irene’s wedding dress and Emil’s grease monkey outfit, are right on target, but the story languishes in too many places. The cast is strong up and down the line, although Melka as written is too cartoonish (but well played by Gable, who is outstanding as the mother in 2004). It’s still an enjoyable play, one that cleverly deals with the choices we all make and how that impacts future generations, but a few nips and tucks could help tighten what could have been a much more insightful and entertaining drama.