By Amanda VanNostrand.
Good theatre should be relatable in some capacity by all who wish to partake. The Humans, currently showing at Walnut Street Theatre until March 4th, is beyond ‘good’ and is therefore universal theatre. Potentially significant to anyone who comes from a family and has experienced love and concern for said family members, this is a show that brings reality to the stage and strikes each member of the audience with the bitter truth of the particular emotions presented. Whether one is currently living life as a parent, child, or both, The Humans will touch upon concerns relevant to all.
The Humans is likely to remove the elephant from the room of any one of a person’s family encounters and stick it directly center stage. This story takes place in Brigid Blake’s (Alex Keiper) new apartment. She has recently moved from her family’s home in Scranton, Pennsylvania, weighed down by college debt and the desperate desire to be away from her family and on her own. She has moved in with her boyfriend Richard Saad (Ibrahim Miari), much to the dismay of her mother Deirdre Blake (Mary Martello) who is visiting Brigid’s apartment for the first time with her husband Erik (Greg Wood) and daughter Aimee (Jennie Eisenhower). Deirdre also brings with her her mother-in-law, Fiona “Momo” Blake, a sufferer of dementia. Though this play is brutally realistic, there are supernatural tones at work throughout: the lights flicker on and off, the pots and pans fall by no apparent cause, and ghosts of the past float through the present Thanksgiving dinner, giving each member of the family pause about their lives and familial relationships.
Symbolism is something in The Humans that could give any literary professor material for days. Part of the beauty of the show is that each viewer is likely to realize a combination of themes and symbols particularly relevant to her or himself. This particular reviewer is struck by the unintentional wall built between parents and child as Brigid struggles to understand how her parents can be so naïve about her living choices: the adventure and appeal of life in a big city, the disconcert for a seemingly rough neighborhood, and the insistence upon eating organic food from a farmer’s market, to name a few. In turn, Brigid cannot understand her parents’ lifestyles, regardless of having been brought up in and therefore at one point fully immersed in them herself, years prior. Financial, educational, and social differences flood the two-story apartment as interactions unfold and true emotions and opinions are revealed. The entire show is engaging and slightly stressful, and is nothing compared to the vaguely confusing and up-to-your-own-interpretation events presented at the close. This show won over 20 Best Play Awards in 2016, and the reason why is no mystery.
Scenic Design (Roman Tatarowicz) is essential to The Humans and Tatarowicz more than successfully presents the setting. Perhaps one of the most distinctive features of this play is that there are two levels of the Chinatown apartment, and its entirety can be viewed throughout the story. The audience therefore witnesses multiple stories at once. Whether the women are upstairs and the men in the kitchen, or all but one character are sitting at the lower level dining room table, the audience is aware of each character’s whereabouts, which contributes greatly to understanding each character’s depth. The set contains a spiral staircase connecting the lower and upper levels, and the wall closest and parallel to the audience is nonexistent, revealing the entirety of the events occurring at the Blake’s Thanksgiving dinner. At times, even multiple dialogues can be seen and heard in a single moment. Sound Design (Christopher Colucci) is therefore also crucial to the story: several dialogues happen at once, perceived supernatural forces audibly present themselves, and your everyday noisy neighbor pops him or herself into the room through sheer volume. Colucci comes through with perfection, and the fullness of the story can be understood through the comprehensive vantage point, both visually and audibly.
Perfection rolls itself over to casting, too; not a beat has been skipped in the choosing of actresses and actors in The Humans. Greg Wood is, as always, a pleasure to witness, and plays his father role in a manner that will enable many viewers to connect with him on a level potentially mirroring their own fathers. His character demonstrates love for his family and remorse towards himself, and Wood is believable in all aspects of this character. Mary Martello plays the part of Deirdre, and the stresses of caring for a demanding parent, two resistant daughters, and a complicated husband come across in Martello’s acting. She portrays an outwardly simple, inwardly complex woman, and does it effectively. Jennie Eisenhower and Alex Keiper play the two sisters in the show, and they are both stunning in their performances. Eisenhower’s character is in mourning over her recent breakup and is battling with the emotions of an upcoming life-changing surgery. She is likely to be the favorite and most admired character, displaying an outward air of ease and cool while simultaneously exposing an inward concern for herself, her future, and her family members. Eisenhower is an effortless success as this character. Keiper is also well chosen for her role as Brigid. Her character is struggling to maintain her newly found independence. As she watches her parents go downhill in their relationships with each other and their roles as caretakers for Momo, she often unsuccessfully interacts with her parents and Keiper’s apparent authenticity and straightforwardness easily flow in her work. Sharon Alexander holds perhaps the most challenging job in playing Fiona “Momo” Blake. Her character is almost entirely nonverbal, only occasionally uttering words and even less seldom expressing words that are comprehensible. Momo is a mystery to the audience, as information is given about her past but her present self is so contrary to her former self. Alexander plays this difficult role in a most believable fashion, and that is undoubtedly a feat. Miari plays Brigid’s boyfriend, and the audience cannot help but feel sympathy for Richard as he attempts to wiggle his way in as an accepted member of the family. Miari does a fine job of portraying this awkward, realistic character. The six actors fuse together and bring a believable family to the stage.
The Humans is an award-winning show. Whether the cast, depth of characters, set design, or overall production impresses viewers, the story will be remembered as most outstanding. Themes upon themes are touched upon, and they are all grazed in the most realistic of ways. Between the struggle and variety of perspectives in regard to finances, the confusion of new times and old habits, the experience that a single place (New York) has offered to different people at different times, or the unsolicited divide that can naturally occur in family members who once meshed together but do no longer, these realities are sharp and will pierce the most sensitive of areas. Not for the fainthearted, this 90-minute show (which takes place in real time) will allow a peek into the very realistic and telling time of an American family. You may walk away realizing that the family on the stage is an image of your own.