NEW YORK—Can a nursing home be the site of a comedy? Playwright Tina Howe gives a resounding “Yes!” and successfully pulls off her concept in her new play, Chasing Manet.
In a pleasant New England nursing home room, cranky Catherine Sargeant (Jane Alexander) fumes, often crying “Out!” The elegant Boston-born, former painter doesn’t want to be there. Her son Royal (Jack Gilpin) put her there and her frequent verbal fisticuffs with him display her wrath. Just because she’s legally blind, why should she be there?
Catherine is soon joined by a new roommate, the slightly ditzy but charming Rennie Waltzer (Lynn Cohen). Rennie suffers from dementia and feels none the worse for it, for it fuels her vivid and lively imagination. She thinks this place is a fancy hotel with a view of a beach, or is it a park? Often her deceased husband Herschel is there with her. What could be nicer?
Although Rennie is confined to a wheelchair, life is good. Very friendly, she readily overlooks Catherine’s acerbic tongue and the two become friends. In fact, Catherine genuinely likes Rennie, and furthermore, a plan begins to formulate in Catherine’s mind. Rennie can be her ticket, both their tickets, out of there, and on to Paris, Catherine’s dream destination.
The mechanics of putting this plan into action become the centerpiece of the play. Catherine phones the QE2 office and makes (very expensive) reservations for two on the classy ocean liner. Then, they’ve somehow got to get hold of Rennie’s passport.
Nursing home employees, such as efficient, but caring, nurse Esperanza (Vanessa Aspillaga), might be a stumbling block. Aide Charles (Rob Riley) might also get in the pair’s way, but on the other hand, maybe he could be enlisted to join them. Rita (Julie Halston), Rennie’s bourgeois New Jersey daughter, must unknowingly be maneuvered into helping the plan take wing, or set sail.
The aforementioned actors Aspillaga, Riley, Gilpin, and Halston are multicast and do a terrific job of slipping into several other identities, as does David Margulies, who skillfully masters three roles. In fact, it’s difficult to identify them in their other roles.
The regal Jane Alexander not only knows how to time a punch line, but has the gift of winning sympathy for a character who is not always likeable. On the other hand, Lynn Cohen’s Rennie exudes lovableness, serving as a worthy foil for Alexander’s Catherine.
Director Michael Wilson moves the pace right along, and it’s a pleasure to see set designer Tony Straiges’s pleasant nursing home set, instead of some drab room; lighting designer Howell Binkley backs up the effect.
Not to be omitted is mention of the one painting on Catherine’s wall, a copy of course, of Manet’s famed “Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe” ("Luncheon on the grass"), which had shocked the Parisian public years ago, displaying, as it did, a nude woman enjoying a picnic with two properly clothed gentlemen. Here is a tangible example of freedom of expression and the flouting of convention.
A sense of fun and suspense inhabits the proceedings, as not until the last moment does the success or failure of Catherine’s desired “out” venture make itself known. It is a true surprise, and one that is greeted with cheers by the audience.
I won’t give it away. I’ll only quote Tennessee Williams’s heroine, Blanche DuBois, in A Streetcar Named Desire, when she exclaims, “I don’t want reality. I want magic.”
Chasing Manet
59E59
59 East 59th Street
Tickets: (212) 279-4200
Running time: l hour, 45 minutes
Closed: May 2
Diana Barth writes and publishes “New Millennium,” an arts newsletter. Her reviews can also be found on TotalTheater.com.
