Review: Neil Labute's COMFORT Smartly Depicts a Torn Family Relationship

“Don’t throw me in the swamp with you just because you’re angry about something” by Cal in Comfort

New Jersey Repertory Company (NJ Rep) continues their successful season of year-round theatre with Comfort, a gripping world premiere by the award-winning writer, Neil LaBute.  Adroitly directed by the Company’s Associate Artistic Director, Evan Bergman, the two-hander is a serious, captivating examination of a broken mother/son relationship. Comfort is a must-see play that will provoke many interesting conversations.  It will be on the Long Branch stage through May 11th with matinee and evening performances available.

The story is set in the home of Iris, a famed writer whose debut book, “The Iron String” brought her enormous success as a novelist.  When Iris’ adult son, Cal makes an uninvited visit to recover the family photos he was promised, the two of them bicker endlessly.  Their discourse reveals resentments that include Iris putting her writing career over family, Iris’s divorce from Cal’s father, an uncomfortable child custody hearing, Cal’s own aspirations as a writer, and Iris’ unyielding self-absorption and preoccupation with her success. Their wrangling reaches a fever pitch when Cal questions Iris’ inspiration for the book, “The Iron String” and speaks to her about his father’s death. Can these two individuals ever put aside the acrimony in their relationship to make peace or find common ground?

Jordan Baker as Iris and Rudy Galvan as Cal master the complex personalities of their characters. The meeting between Iris and Cal feels as though it’s unfolding in real time.  Baker and Galvan deliver Neil LaBute’s finely crafted dialogue without missing a beat.

The Creative Team has done a great job of setting the mood for the show. The Team includes set design by Jessica Parks; lighting design by Jill Nagle; technical direction by Brian Snyder; costume design by Patricia E. Doherty; and sound design by Nick Simone.  The  production stage manager is Rose Riccardi.

We applaud NJ Rep’s Artistic Director, SuzAnne Barabas and Executive Producer, Gabor Barabas for continuing to bring ground-breaking, excellent productions to metro area audiences and we look forward to the season ahead. We suggest that patrons get to the theatre a little early.  The theme of Comfort focuses on the authorship of women and NJ Rep’s lobby has a great display of women who have won the Pulitzer Prize.  See how many of the books you have read!

Comfort is an original, thought-provoking play that we hope will have a long life in the theatre. It will be presented at New Jersey Repertory Company through May 11th with afternoon and evening shows available.  The run time is approximately 2 hours 15 minutes with one intermission.  The theatre is located at 179 Broadway, Long Branch, NJ 07740-7005. The entrance is in the rear with plenty of free parking.For tickets and more information, please visit www.njrep.org and call 732.229.3166.  

Photo Credit: Andrea Phox