Goodman Theatre presents a remount of the successful 2013 premiere of SMOKEFALL.
This show is different. The set, designed by Kevin Depinet, hints of that immediately. A massive, slanted wooden ceiling covers an ordinary-looking two level mid-century decorated home. A cut-out window in the roof looks to a sunlit sky. Artificial grass carpets a floating staircase that disappears into a mysterious third floor. The inside-outside look is subtly quirky. And within this peculiar setting, the family begins their morning ritual. The eccentric accelerates quickly to zany.
Playwright Noah Haidle drops us into a-day-in-the-life-of a Grand Rapids family. Haidle creates colorful characters acting out life in their normal fashion. We understand each person’s inner-workings from a mystical narrator (played by Guy Massey) footnoting activity. His insight lets us understand what each family member is thinking and feeling. The day initially appears to be the same as any other yet Massey lets us know through the benefit of hindsight, life will drastically change on this day.
Under the direction of Anne Kauffman, this show tethers the audience to these lives like an umbilical cord. There is a relatable ordinariness: church bells ringing, a woman cooking breakfast, a man getting ready for work. Within this familiarity, Haidle splices in the harsh reality of life: dementia in old age, an unplanned pregnancy, a child’s sacrifice to save a marriage. Each family member’s happiness and even existence is being challenged. The show is an intense exploration of the choices made and their short-term and long-term effects on a life and on a family.
Haidle doles out this unforgettable life lesson with plenty of dark, dark, dark humor. During breakfast, the formidable Mike Nussbaum inquires how many more hours until he can go back to sleep. In the moment, it’s hilarious! After the laughter dies down, the truth behind the question disturbingly gnaws at me. Haidle couches this and all his life nuggets with comedy. A scene between two unborn twins, Massey and Eric Slater, is this candid and comedic debate about being born. This imaginative exchange has the baby boys aware of their dysfunctional family from the safety of the womb. The perspective of how much an unborn baby understands is both clever and disconcerting. Massey and Slater’s fears of the unknown are spiritedly and lovingly confronted. They establish a tight brotherly bond even before they are born.
This show is about family transcending over generations, over decisions, over craziness. Haidle’s family portrait is murky. There are ongoing dramatic acts yet they are rooted in a strong familial love. The tenderness is especially prevalent in the ladies of the home; Katherine Keberlein (Violet) and Catherine Combs (Beauty). They go about the daily drudgery with a positive radiance. Keberlein repeats answers to her aging father with the same affection she sings to her unborn twins. Her family is her life, the citizens of her heart. Keberlein’s hardships are revealed by others, the narrator’s footnotes and her children’s conversations. She endures her life with an illuminating façade making her final line in the play even more heartbreakingly beautiful. Without uttering one word, Combs enchants with her expressive concern. She and Nussbaum have a special way of communicating. At one point, she conveys her anticipation of something awful happening. Nussbaum connects with her and shares her grief. And in the next moment, he has forgotten and leaves her in her isolated sadness. We see her wither at the weight of her burden. It’s gut-wrenching.
SMOKEFALL is a unique theatrical experience. Haidle’s story is a total original. It’s part sitcom, part drama, part fable and all memorable. The sublime cast become Haidle’s cast of characters. And Kauffman navigates their inventive lives in dark comedy perfection.
Running Time: Two hours includes an intermission
At Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn
Written by Noah Haidle
Directed by Anne Kauffman
Tuesday, October 4th only at 7:30pm
Wednesdays at 7:30pm
Thursdays at 2pm and 7:30pm (no 2pm on 10/23)
Fridays at 8pm
Saturdays 2pm and 8pm
Sundays at 2pm and 7:30pm (no 7:30pm on 10/19 and 10/26)
Thru October 26th
Buy Tickets at www.goodmantheatre.org
Production photo by Liz Lauren