Time and the Conways

Time and the Conways

Roundabout Theatre Company

American Airlines Theatre

September 30, 2017

 

Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

The Roundabout Theatre Company production of Time and the Conways poignantly gives pause to contemplate the concept of time.  Director Rebecca Taichman masterfully creates distinctive atmospheres in the three scenes of the play by varying the tone and pace.  She pulls the closing of each act to a poetic and sentimental ending.  The cast fluently evokes the time period and setting.  The design of the production (sets: Neil Patel; costumes: Paloma Young; lighting: Christopher Akerlind; sound: Matt Hubbs; hair & wig: Leah J. Loukas) transports the audience to a realistic location, then swiftly moves through time and space, creating the illusion of infinite dimension.

The year is 1919 and World War I has just ended.  The Conway family of Great Britain is celebrating the twenty-first birthday of Kay (played by Charlotte Parry).  The family matriarch (played by Elizabeth McGovern) is excited because her son Robin (played by Matthew James Thomas) has just returned from the air force.  Everyone is overly cheerful and highly optimistic.  In the next moment it is 1937.  The family fortune is diminished and everyone seems jaded and worn down my time… or is time an illusion?

The cast of Time and the Conways
Photos courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Elizabeth McGovern is stately as Mrs. Conway, layering heart, warmth, and humor into genuine moments.  Charlotte Parry creates the lense from which the audience views and relates to the action.  The insight of her character is truthful and her distress is heartfelt.  Gabriel Ebert portrays Alan Conway with an open sense of honesty and acceptance.  Steven Boyer is cunning and sharp as Earnest Beevers.  His character unwraps to reveal a cruel and consuming dark side that jolts the family’s sense of unity.  Anna Baryshnikov is effervescent as Carol Conway.  Brook Bloom and Anna Camp show a strong and intriguing range in the maturing of the characters of Madge and Hazel.

Elizabeth McGovern
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

In Act I the over the top optimism of the first scene is powerfully juxtaposed by the transparent harshness of the second.  Rebecca Taichman brilliantly changes the tone again in Act II as the characters are developed from a more realistic point of view.  This variation magnifies the theme of playwright J.B. Priestley by giving the audience a visceral understanding of how the dimension of time can overlap and recount an altered point of view.

Time and the Conways is running at the American Airlines Theatre through November 26.  It is a poignant period piece with a valuable message.  The performances are strong.  The production is poetic. 

Domenick Danza