'Two Thirds Home' - Two Thirds Excellent
Two Thirds Home, the new play by Padraic Lillis, certainly gets props for tackling a subject I don't often see in the theater- the relationship between adult children of lesbian parents. It's a brave and powerful piece.
Brothers Michael and Paul return to the home they grew up in to retrieve their dead mother's financial papers after her funeral. Michael (Ryan Woodle), as the executor of his mother's will, is no-nonsense, and wants to just get her things and go, while Paul (Aaron Roman Weiner), who's visiting from Chicago, wants to linger in his memories of his mother. Brotherly tensions build- Michael's the responsible one who stayed at home, got a job, and got married, while Paul went off to the Big City to become a poet and teacher. Each somewhat envies the other, even while despising the way the other lives.
Add into the mix Sue (Peggy J. Scott), their mother's lover, who never really got along with the boys, especially Michael, who is upset that Sue didn't wake him in the hospital when his mother was dying. Accusations and unresolved guilt fly through the air. The will leaves everything evenly to the three of them, so no one knows what to do with the house- Michael wants to sell it, Paul wants to move back and live there, and Sue quite naturally would like to continue living in her home.
The acting is exquisite from all three actors. Ms. Scott gives Sue a deep and subtle martyrdom, every so often letting a glimpse of her character's rage bubble to the surface. Mr. Woodle is funny and touching as the more crass of the two brothers. Mr. Weiner is sweet as Paul, trying to understand how his life got to where it is, and why his mother loved this woman. The three work wonderfully as an ensemble.
As a child of a lesbian myself, I assumed there would be a few elements I could identify with more than others might, but this is certainly accessible to anyone- actually, probably more accessible to people who haven't met real lesbians. The subject matter is packaged for the benefit of clueless heterosexuals (Are there really people who call lesbians "fags"?) due to the focus of the play being through the eyes of the two men. Sue is mostly a prop, she's a dishrag of a character- constantly denying herself and catering to the male characters- perhaps this is to imbue her with motherly characteristics, but then that doesn't say much about mothers, either.
The script is repetitive and sometimes confusing, in a "didn't we go over this already?" sort of way. It's never entirely clear whether the dead woman didn't want Sue mentioned in her eulogy, or if Michael inferred that from the years of internalized homophobia that he learned from his mother when she didn't tell people that Sue was her lover. About 3/4 of the script is great, however. Lillis gets into the minds of the male characters effectively. It's certainly worth a look.
The set design by Laura Jellinek deserves its own mention- it was amazing, full of depth and detail that one doesn't usually see.
Two Thirds Home
Runs July 26-August 12
Monday, Wednesday-Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 7pm, dark on Tuesday.
Tickets $20 www.TheaterMania.com or call 212-352-3101
Photos by Jennifer Sayegh - 1) Ryan Woodle, Aaron Roman Weiner and Peggy J. Scott; 2) Aaron Roman Weiner and Peggy J. Scott; 3) Aaron Roman Weiner and Ryan Woodle
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