An 'Affair' to Remember, Even if Her Kids Would Prefer to Forget
6 / 10
Linda Lavin is alternately sardonic and fragile in the New York premiere of Richard Greenberg's drama 'Our Mother's Brief Affair'...The notion of 'legacy' weighs heavily in the drama, which touches on themes such as the suburban dream, and the desire, when one's life is nearing its end, 'to be known'...Lavin...paints a balanced portrait here, as a Long Island mom who dutifully raised two kids despite being in a marriage that was never romantic... Greenberg...is making a point about 'scale,' that some loads we carry through life-the burdens that bring us shame-are worse than others, and that after a point we must forgive ourselves. It's a point I'd gander he might have made more elegantly without the plot twist, but nonetheless, with Lavin leading the cast, it's a beautifully performed play.

