Review: PICTURES FROM HOME at Marin Theatre
Pictures From Home continues through May 31st.
Marin Theatre ends its season with a bang, presenting the West Coast premiere of Sharr White’s poignant Broadway play Pictures from Home. Based on the photo memoir, Pictures from Home by late Marin photographer Larry Sultan, White’s adaptation is a charming, often humorous, and deeply moving homage to Sultan’s love for his parents and the generational differences that define their relationships. Elevated by outstanding performances by the three characters, White breathes a universal familial truth into this play that draws the viewer into their world, while turning a lens ion our own experiences.
Utilizing a broken fourth wall, the characters speak directly to us, providing their perspectives on the eight-year photo essay project Larry is working on. Travelling between his home and family in Greenbrae down to his parent’s suburban home in San Fernando, Sultan irks his father with his seemingly undefined mission to photograph him and his wife Jean. There’s plenty of exasperation as the two men go at it – Larry trying to display his father’s drive for success through his carefully created image while his father attempts to show another, happier side to the story. All the while Jean is harping comically at her husband, wishing he wasn’t retired, and being the current breadwinner for the pair.
Acting giant Victor Talmadge and Susan Koozin make a loving, yet challenging couple. Their raucous relationship is “just a day in the life” says Irving, and sees intimacy as it is, “a big mess.” Both parents question Larry’s project and the question White poses here is what is the truth in Larry’s photos? Is it the subject’s or the artists? Where Larry sees a photo of his father revealing sensitivity and vulnerability, his father has a differing perspective. Where Larry sees his parents’ story as the great Western migration, his parents see it as a necessity to create a new life.
The acting here is superb, Moscone’s direction elegant. There’s a huge blowup between the two men when Larry’s intent is challenged. Mother steps in and it’s revealed that it’s the fear of losing his parents that has fueled this attempt to photograph time in an attempt to stop it. Pictures from Home stirs deep emotions as great theater should. The acting alone makes it a must-see.
Pictures From Home continues through May 31st. Tickets available at marintheatre.org or by calling the box office at 415-388-5208.
Photo credit: David Allen
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