EDWARD ALBEE'S AT HOME AT THE ZOO: HOMELIFE & THE ZOO STORY


Evidence of why the late Edward Albee was such an effective playwright is dynamically on display in the juxtaposition of his “The Zoo Story” and his later-written “Homelife,” which he decreed must be performed together. His rationale is apparent and justifiable, and fortunately, three superb actors --Katie Finneran, Robert Sean Leonard and Paul Sparks—succeed admirably in carrying out Albee’s mission.

In “Homelife,” the opener, we meet Peter (Leonard) and his wife Ann (Finneran) in a brilliant exploration of a marriage that while one of surface contentment, Albee’s dialogue demonstrates emotional gaps, emphasized with well-timed silences in the astute direction by Lila Neugebauer. Peter, a publishing executive, sits stoically buried in reading a textbook that he considers utterly boring. Ann, darting in and out of the room, struggles to capture his attention and engage him in meaningful or sometimes outlandish conversation.

Talk eventually gets deeply personal. Finneran wonderfully communicates desire for something more in their marriage even though she loves her husband. She talks about the attention-grabbing thought of maybe having a mastectomy. She describes their sex life on the one hand as satisfyingly regular, but indicates she’d like a bit of animalistic behavior for a change. Peter confesses that in college he acquiesced in a woman’s demand for anal sex that resulted in her bleeding, and he vowed to himself to be more traditional in the future. He also confesses to the phenomenon of his penis retreating in what he describes as loss of foreskin.

This conversational dance between the two is marvelously executed by Finneran and Leonard, and demonstrates Albee’s skill in tensely commanding audience attention with his blend of humor and repressed desires in what becomes a poignant marital description. At the end of “Homelife” Peter informs Ann that he is going to the park to read, setting the stage for “The Zoo Story” after intermission.

“The Zoo Story” was the 1958 play that catapulted Albee into success and in this production by the Signature Theatre it is easy to see why. The drama turns out to be devastating after Peter’s passivity while reading on a bench in Manhattan’s Central Park is interrupted by the arrival of Sparks as Jerry.

Sparks gives an outstanding, penetrating and particularly memorable performance as the interloper. Jerry is a bundle of nerves, resentments and dissatisfaction with his life. It is an extremely difficult role which Sparks conquers with the creative way in which he displays the various facets of Jerry's personality via the lengthy, complex almost non-stop speeches that Albee has provided.

Jerry quickly brings an element of fear to the situation, then is increasingly aggressive toward Peter while beginning to teasingly tell the story of what happened at his just-completed visit to the Central Park Zoo. What sharply emerges is the issue of class and Jerry’s deep resentments toward Peter’s life on Manhattan’s East Side with a wife and two daughters and his high salary in contrast to Jerry’s life in a bare-bones, confined apartment on Manhattan’s West Side. Everything about Jerry indicates bitter jealousy, and yet he has a humorous swagger about him that Sparks nails entertainingly along with the projection of danger and the possibility of exploding.

We know this situation cannot end well, aggravated when Jerry sits on the bench with Peter and demands that he move to another bench. Instead of obliging, and more sensibly just leaving, Peter’s ire is aroused and against the pattern of his quiet personality as seen in “Homelife,” he takes a principled stand that ignites Jerry’s anger, and when Jerry draws a knife, we surely know something dreadful will happen. The play’s set-up obviously offers the possibility of reading societal symbolism into the work.

Such is the taut drama and range of exploration that Albee has provided, and in “The Zoo Story” we see nothing short of a great performance by Sparks, who has built a reputation as a particularly fine actor with his work in theater, television and film.

The production of Albee’s two combined plays affords the perfect opportunity to enjoy and scrutinize his work anew, thanks to the insightful staging by Neugebauer and the sublime acting of her cast. At the Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd Street. Phone: 212-244-7529. Reviewed February 24, 2018.




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