AISLE SAY New York

Reviewed by David Spencer

2/4/2019
It’s not meant as a criticism to say that Jessica Dickey’s new play, The Convent, is a difficult one to parse. On the one hand, it seems to start out as a satirical look at self-actualization, inner-journey groups and retreats like EST. On the other hand, as it progresses, it seems to take the culture more seriously, at least as regards the notion of women who feel disenfranchised, unfulfilled and/or undefined gathering to help each other crack open to find the light inside.

            Mother Abbess (Wendy vanden Heuvel) holds her retreat in a medieval convent in the south of France, and though there is certainly an undercurrent of Christian fellowship, it’s almost unarticulated; nor is she a real Catholic nun (though one of the guests is). She is, rather, the guru who has devised the regimen of the program—and the business: People do pay for the service. And the new group is one of culture, orientation, psychological and class diversity (Amy Berryman, Annabel Capper, Brittany Anikka Liu, Margaret Odette and Lisa Ramirez). (Arguably also ethnic diversity, but that may only be in the casting; unless I missed something in the text, the roles are “open.”) And includes one repeat visitor interloper (Samantha Soule). Her connection to this place is dramatized as something of a reveal, but it’s not much of a surprise. Which fortunately doesn’t matter much.

            What matters is that, as witnesses to the process, we start to go on the ride. As the women let down their defenses, we let down our resistance. This, of course, clouds the theme of the play because, again, this kind of process is so rife for Dianetics-brand charlatanism and crazy true believers. But Ms. Dickey seems to want to leave that potential unexplored (though it’s mildly articulated on the fringes by the interloper)—and I have no idea whether or not the play has its roots in an experience she’s had personally, knows about or might have researched. What seems more to the point is her creation of the environment for what I call a “gathering” play—an artificial but believable reason for a cross section of a society subset to come together and interact; like Harold’s birthday party in The Boys in the Band, or the reunion of the winning high school basketball team and their coach, over two decades later, in That Championship Season—but in this case, the stripping away of layers toward true self is ultimately toward a therapeutic goal. The characters agree to conditions of isolation and exclusivity for the purpose of self-examination and mutual support, and basically that’s what happens.

            The play is very well acted and directed (Daniel Talbott) on a runway stage—and the configuration of small audience on either side really does make you feel tacitly complicit in what’s going on. The more I think of it, the more I find myself unable to tell you if The Convent is a “good” play, in the sense of working its manipulations “honestly,” and using its devices in fresh enough variation from things we’ve seen before; but that’s often the controversial touchpoint of a “feelgood” play, isn’t it? And I can argue it both ways. The bottom line, though, is I was willing to be affected, and didn’t feel sucker punched after giving in.

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Much the same can be said of God Said This by Leah Nanako Winkler, a Primary Stages entry at that company’s new Cherry Lane Theatre home. If one had to box it, it comes under the heading of family comedy-drama. If one had to give it a sub-genre, it’s the one about how the long-term illness of a core family member brings the estranged members of that family together. If one had to make a case for how that tried-and-true template has been made relevant to the present era…well, I’m not sure one can, but its elements are certainly in the trending Zeitgeist:

            For one, it concerns a mixed-race family: the cancer patient, a piano-prodigy mother who moved there from Japan (by way of meeting in San Francisco, played by the mononymous Ako); a blue-collar native Kentucky father and reformed alcoholic (Jay Patterson); and their two adult daughters, the irrepressible free-spirit (Satomi Blair) and her younger sister, recently a born-again Christian (Emma Kikue). Throw in an old school chum of the older sister (Tom Coiner), reconnected via Facebook, with teenage son problems of his own.

            And like Convent, this is not an easy play to parse, not making it immediately clear if the disparate profiles are meant to serve some theme of social commentary; or if we are just to take them as an old-school cross-section of stark contrasts. Or if indeed, we should think of the play as another somewhat disjointed “gathering” play in which the endgame is healing.

            Under the direction of Morgan Gould, God Said This is played more broadly than convent, in both its comedic and serious moments—or perhaps that’s not quite accurate; let’s say with more extravagance of persona and archetype—but the high octane cast is plenty skilled enough to keep it within the bounds of stylistic verisimilitude, and as impressively, when there are laughs to be had, they know how to land them; in particular Ms. Blair as the older sister, who can get one from the mildest shift of expression as she considers an unexpected notion.

            As with Convent, I started the experience cold, not sure what I was in for, went through an initial period of adjustment in which I ultimately abandoned whatever I thought I might be headed toward, and eventually settled into go with the flow as a guiding philosophy.

            In chick-flick territory, if the material is skillful enough to earn its keep, that seems much the safest way…

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