How to Transcend
a Happy Marriage
The Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater
April 15, 2017
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| Photo courtesy of Lincoln Center Theater |
Transcend: to go beyond the limits of all possible experience
and knowledge; being beyond comprehension.
In
How to Transcend a Happy Marriage
playwright Sarah Ruhl explores what lies beyond the boundaries of societal
definitions of relationship, marriage, and family to find a quality of love,
acceptance, and happiness that is greater than the expected. Through magical realism, she skillfully transports
the audience into the experiences of the characters and induces an intense level
of reflection on their journey.
Jane
(played by Robin Weigert) tells her husband, Michael (played by Brian
Hutchison), and her best friends George and Paul (played by Marisa Tomei and
Omar Metwally) about Pip, a temp at her office who hunts and slaughters her own
food and is living with two men in a polyamorous relationship. The curiosity of the two couples is aroused,
so they decide to invite Pip (played by Lena Hall) and her two male companions
(played by David McElwee and Austin Smith) to a dinner party on New Year’s
Eve. This encounter sets these two
happily married couples on a journey of no return.
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| Photo courtesy of Lincoln Center Theater |
In
Act I you get a visceral sense of the characters’ discomfort with themselves
when the movement, costumes, and dialogue seem stiff and choppy. This sense is heightened when juxtaposed
against the flow, smoothness, and ease of their invited guests. Act II delves deeply into the psyche of
George (Marissa Tomei’s character) as she struggles to transcend the defined
boundaries she has accepted for herself.
The bond Ms. Tomei creates with her fellow actors (Robin Weigert, Brian
Hutchison, and Omar Metwally) is strong and genuine. They all resist and grapple with the truth as
they allow their characters to look at their lives from a new perspective. Ms. Ruhl finds the poetry and music in these
characters tumultuous experiences that brings intellectual and emotional
understanding of their growth and change.
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| Marissa Tomei & Lena Hall Photo courtesy of Lincoln Center Theater |
The
parallels between the character of Pip and Roman mythology’s Diana, goddess
of the hunt, moon, and birthing, and associated with wild animals and woodland,
is superbly constructed. The triad Diana
made between the water nymph Egeria, and the woodland god Virbius is reflected
in Pip’s polyamorous relationship. Through these mythical images and the psychological
and carnal impulses they arouse, the characters unearth deep-seeded
realizations about the lives they have settled into. In an emotional moment at the end of Act II, Jane blurts out that in
order to bring children into the world you have to release your inner animal,
and you then spend the rest of your life hiding that animal side from them. This is one of the many profound insights the
characters are propelled to face.
If
you are a fan of Sarah Ruhl’s work, you will definitely find this play worth seeing. The cast is excellent, the directing (by
Rebecca Taichman) is unified, and the writing is authentic. How to
Transcend a Happy Marriage is playing at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater through May 7.
Domenick Danza
