Review: HIR transfixes at The Wilbury Theatre Group

Before trans entered our vernacular as a standalone word, we used it mostly as a prefix to indicate something was being changed into another version of itself — be it energy into other energy (transduction), language into other language (translation), or shape into other shape (transformation). Regardless of the type of boundary it invites us to cross, trans- always invites us to trace the edge of what is, and then venture beyond that edge to create something new.

In HIR — a transfixing dark comedy by Pulitzer finalist Taylor Mac — the boundaries in question have been drawn by the patriarchal structures that define gender roles and confine us to them. It asks what happens when these structures falter: Do we salvage the shattered pieces? Burn them in a fire of hurt and revenge? Or try finding a different way of being — one that moves beyond a binary of power and powerlessness, creating space for compassion without category, identity without compromise? 

The Wilbury Theatre Group’s taut production of the play — which runs at the WaterFire Arts Center until February 4 — animates these questions with unsettling humor and rising tension, creating a theater experience that rivets and challenges its audience.

At the play’s opening, Isaac Connor (Zach Gibb) returns home from the Marines to find his working class family transformed. His parents' roles have been reversed: When a stroke leaves her abusive husband, Arnold (Jim O’Brien), dependent on her care, Isaac’s mother, Paige (Jennifer Mischley), seizes the upper hand, dressing him in women’s clothes and slipping crushed estrogen into his liquid meals. And Isaac’s younger sibling, Max (Will Malloy), who he previously knew as his sister, now identifies as transmasculine and uses nonbinary pronouns ze and hir (pronounced “here”); Max dreams of joining a genderqueer commune, where ze can write a reclaimed hirstory. Confronted with what he sees as a family past in shambles, Isaac scrambles to preserve traces of a problematic normalcy — creating tension with his mother, who fiercely defends this new family order. As the conflict between Isaac and Paige threatens to boil over, Max struggles to teach his mother and brother how to challenge patriarchal violence without perpetuating it. 

Jennifer Mischley and Jim O'Brien in HIR by Taylor Mac" height="1154" src="https://cloudimages.broadwayworld.com/upload13/2287884/IMG_7588.jpg" width="800" />

Despite the grave synopsis, HIR is often a funny play — but its absurdist satire is grounded in harsh realism, and steeped in pathos. The Connor family’s situation is unbelievable, but only just, and its members are flawed and complex. 

Director Brien Lang manages this difficult tone well, using shifts of pace and lighting to signal the play’s quick movements from dark comedy to darker drama. Lang also draws nuanced, committed performances out of his small cast. Gibb and Malloy bring to life two very different brothers, joined by their shared family trauma; they shine most brightly in their exchanges with each other, capturing the warmth at the heart of their sibling relationship, even as they navigate their new family normal. O’Brien evokes pity and disdain as Arnold, the once-brutal patriarch whose dignity now depends upon his abused wife’s scant mercy. 

But the performance most depends on Mischley, whose Paige dominates the family dynamic for most of the play. Mischley commands the audience’s attention: she captures the whirlwind of sarcasm, rage, and effort that propel Paige through the play, sliding from comedy to drama and absurdism to realism with ease. As Paige, she is both sympathetic and unlikeable, justifiable and unthinkable, and her dynamic performance provides an anchor — and, in some cases, a counterweight — for her fellow actors to play with and against. 

The Wilbury Theater Group’s production of HIR takes no prisoners. Its cutting humor and gutting climax transcend genre, imploring us to examine the carnage of our collective history and imagine a future where we can transform it.

The Wilbury Theatre Group’s HIR runs through February 4 at the WaterFire Arts Center, located at 475 Valley Street, Providence, RI. Tickets are $35 standard admission, with $55 community supporter, $15 budget friendly, and $5 access for all options also available. They are purchasable online at https://thewilburygroup.org.

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