Can You Forgive Her?

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CAN YOU FORGIVE HER?

Photo: Carol Rosegg

Cititour.com Review
Women have making tough decisions about the price of independence, financial and otherwise, for a couple of centuries, and this timeless topic is explored anew in Gina Gionfriddo’s “Can You Forgive Her?”, now premiering at the Vineyard Theatre. (The title is borrowed from Anthony Trollope’s 19th-century novel on the same subject.) Sadly, the admitted strengths of her work, including some very funny lines and an intelligent examination a provocative subject, are undercut by Peter DuBois’ oddly unenergetic and slightly miscast production.

The plot revolves primarily around Miranda (Amber Tamblyn), a headstrong young woman who is intent on paying off the $200,000 worth of debt in the easiest way possible. While much of that debt comes from her college and graduate school tuitions, Miranda is unapologetic about any the life choices she’s made.

Rather too coincidentally, she ends up in the home of the depressed Graham (a surprisingly wan Darren Pettie) after his seemingly goody-goody girlfriend Tanya (a too-annoying Ella Dershowitz) sends her there after Miranda angers her Indian “boyfriend” Sateesh (Esham Bay) at the bar where Tanya works. The problem is that Miranda has been taking gifts, including an expensive Coach handbag, from Sateesh, but not giving him sex.

Instead, that particular pleasure is reserved solely for her older sugar daddy David (the ever-reliable a Frank Wood, making a welcome late-in-the-play appearance), with whom she has developed some sort of emotional attachment, even though he proves to be colder than the iceberg that sunk the Titanic.

Meanwhile, Ella, a single mom who strives for a better (and debt-free) life, goes back and forth hitching her wagon to Graham, who has temporarily-perhaps-permanently relocated from Colorado to his late mother’s house in New Jersey. He has been “paralyzed: for six months – essentially drinking and whining – unable to go through the boxes of his late mother’s “papers,” which include the numerous unpublished novels and stories she wrote in the many years following her divorce.

Gionfriddo smartly sets up a compare-and-contrast scenario about how these three very different ladies approach their lives, but with one completely unseen (Graham’s mom) and one (Tanya) both portrayed and written in a two-dimensional fashion, the burden of making the play work rests squarely on the shoulders on the character of Miranda. And there lies the biggest problem of this production.

In our star-driven culture, it was obviously tempting to give this juicy role to a “name” actress; unfortunately, Tamblyn (whose credits range from “General Hospital” and “Joan of Arcadia” to “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.”). proves to have too little stage technique. While she can handle a sassy line quite well, she is clearly acting, rather than inhabiting the role. Ultimately, we’re never fully sure how much Miranda is truly walking the walk or simply talking a good game.
By Brian Scott Lipton


Visit the Site
http://www.vineyardtheatre.org/can-you-forgive-her

Cast
Amber Tamblyn, Ella Dershowitz, Darren Pettie, Frank Wood, Eshan Bay

Open/Close Dates
Opening 5/4/2017
Closing 6/11/2017

Box Office
212-353-0303

Theatre Info
Vineyard Theatre
108 East 15th Street
New York, NY 10003
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