Enduring tragicomedy in ‘ Marvin’s Room’
By the time it’s all over, Scott McPherson’s message about what really makes life worth living— being able to love people, even more than being loved oneself— is all the more poignant.
First, a bit of history: Scott McPherson’s play, “Marvin’s Room,” a beguiling and eccentric tragicomedy about love, death and family ties, debuted at the old Goodman Theatre in 1990 and almost immediately catapulted the then 30- year- old actor-turned playwright into the spotlight. The 1991 Off- Broadway production of the play caught the attention of Robert De Niro, who would go on to produce a starry film version of the work featuring Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton and Leonardo DiCaprio. But sadly, although McPherson penned the screenplay for that film, by the time it was released in 1996 he had died of complications from AIDS at the age of just 33.
While it is not essential to know all this before heading to the exceptionally winning revival of the play now in a Shattered Globe Theatre production sensitively directed by Sandy Shinner, anyone watching the play’s zany doctor’s office scenes might well appreciate McPherson’s blackly comic take on all things medical in a different way. Beyond that, by the time it’s all over, McPherson’s message about what really makes life worth living — being able to love people, even more than being loved oneself— will be all the more poignant. You also might well find yourself wondering about the plays McPherson never had the time to write.
“Marvin’s Room” is not an AIDS play, but it certainly homes in on the whole matter of mortality from the start. Its principal character, Bessie ( Linda Reiter in just the latest of her masterfully lean, ruthlessly honest portrayals of women under duress), has spent much of her life as caretaker for her father, Marvin ( the victim of a stroke), and her crippled and somewhat addled aunt, Ruth ( Tony Award winner Deanna Dunagan). But now, quite suddenly, Bessie is diagnosed with leukemia.
It is no accident that most of the physically healthy people in “Marvin’s Room” are deeply troubled emotionally. Chief among them is Lee ( Rebecca Jordan, ideal as Bessie’s resentful, insecure, edgy younger sister). Long- estranged form Bessie, this ne’er- do- well sister is the single mother of two boys — 17- year- old Hank ( Nate Santana, ideal as an angry but needy adolescent), who set the family’s Ohio house on fire and has been confined to a psychiatric hospital, and his younger brother, Charlie ( beanpole thin and beguiling Kyle Klein II), a sweet boy who buries himself in books. Push comes to shove when Bessie’s best hope for treatment is to find a bone marrow match, and Lee and her boys must be tested as potential donors.
The tension between the allgiving Bessie and the self- involved Lee is expertly drawn, with McPherson finding compassion for each woman. The relationship between the two brothers also is winningly captured, most notably in the scene in which they curl up in their sleeping bags and Charlie repeatedly tries to move himself closer to Hank only to be pushed away. Funny, touching and true, it expresses more about the boys’ shared affection than any dialogue could possibly do.
In addition to mortality, it is the wayMcPherson captures the sheer absurdity of life that sets “Marvin’s Room” apart, most notably Bessie’s encounters with inept doctors and their staff ( deftly played by Don Tieri, Deanna ReedFoster and Drew Schad), and the nonverbal outbursts of Marvin ( Larry Bundschu), seen only as a shadow behind a bedroom wall, where his greatest delights are the dancing reflections made by a little compact mirror. Marvin has clung to life for years, andMcPherson makes it clear that it is Bessie’s love, more than any pills, that has kept him going.