A Delicate Balance
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Cititour.com Review
Words are chosen carefully in the work of Edward Albee – to explain, to hurt, to conceal – and they are spoken with extraordinary care by the six stellar actors, led by Tony Award winners Glenn Close, John Lithgow, and Lindsay Duncan – who star in Pam MacKinnon’s carefully wrought revival of Albee’s 1967 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama “A Delicate Balance,” now at the John Golden Theatre.
The play’s first words are spoken by Agnes (Close, clad in one of Ann Roth’s stunning ensembles), the extraordinarily assured matriarch of an upper-class WASP family (as evidenced by Santo Loquasto’s jaw-dropping set). Speaking as much to herself as to her ineffectual husband Tobias (Lithgow), she muses about how she expects to never lose her sanity – a foreshadowing of many of the play’s themes, some of which aren’t revealed until midway through this nearly three-hour drama.
Indeed, the steadfast, hard-hearted Agnes – superbly embodied by Close -- maintains not just her sanity, but her almost regal composure, no matter what is thrown at her over the course of one fateful weekend, whether it be the barbs of her witty, “alcoholic” younger sister Claire (Duncan); the unwelcome return of her much-married, perpetually unhappy daughter Julia (Martha Plimpton), and especially the surprise arrival of the couple’s best friends, the milquetoastish Harry (Bob Balaban) and his outspoken wife Edna (Clare Higgins), who have fled their house after experiencing “terror.”
Harry and Edna’s presence throws off the “delicate balance” of not just the entire household, but of Agnes and Tobias’ marriage, after she tries to force Tobias to decide on whether the couple can stay forever, even as Agnes makes it clear that she believes they have brought “the plague” with them. Watching Lithgow’s Tobias finally make an impassioned (and somewhat surprising) speech to Balaban’s Harry as he makes his decision is one of the high points of this (or any) theatrical season.
MacKinnon, who helmed the recent Tony Award-winning revival of Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” is keenly attuned to the author’s words and intentions, and has the rare gift of making even his talkiest speeches feel natural. She also knows how to guide her cast expertly in maintaining this balancing act, since these are not necessarily people you want to spend three minutes with, never mind three hours.
Duncan doesn’t overdo Claire’s drunkenness, making her more sardonic and slightly wounded than utterly willful and obnoxious. Similarly, while Plimpton embraces Julia’s childishness and petulance, this wonderful actress also lets us see the girl (even if she is 36) who is still seeking approval from her mother and love from her father. Balaban is beautifully understated as Harry, who has almost no personality, while Higgins is vaguely unpleasant, if well-meaning (in her own mind) as Edna.
One does have to pay attention to get all the nuances of Albee’s work, and not all of it lends itself to easy explanation, but audience members who have the requisite “delicate” sensibility will be treated to a special night at the theater.
By Brian Scott Lipton
Visit the Site
http://www.adelicatebalancebroadway.com
Cast
Glenn Close, John Lithgow, Lindsay Duncan, Bob Balaban, Claire Higgins, Martha Plimpton
Open/Close Dates
Opening 11/20/2014
Closing 2/22/2015
Preview Open/ Preview Close Dates
Preview Opening 10/20/2014
Closing Open-ended
Box Office
212-239-6200
Theatre Info
John Golden Theatre
252 West 45th Street
New York, NY 10036
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