God Box

Play

April 5-19, 2015

A mother is reviewing the effects of her daughter’s life, considering its dimensions, wondering about its secrets. She comes across the “God Box,” a trove of books, notes, icons of one sort or another, which sets her to explore what her daughter was after.

Part comedy, part tragedy, this sweetly moving reflection on the variations of a daughter’s (Rebecca) life by her quite, traditional Jewish mother (Gloria), demonstrates both the authorial and thespian talents of Antonia Lassar. Playwright Lassar’s play is multidimensional and interesting, pouring more characters and complexities into its sixty-five minutes than one might have expected. Thespian Lassar’s performance is adept and endearing, hovering around the hub of the mother, appropriately ditzy and somewhat dowdy, going on about cheesecake recipes and explaining to the presumed unknowing goyim (the non-Jews in the audience), what the various Jewish references mean. But, as well, she travels through various characters, including a non-Jewish lover and a Christian minister, and does a convincing job with each.

The play adeptly moves between the quite poignant turf that forms its core, but maintains an aura of jocularity that some may find odd and inconsistent with the drama’s context. The tone of the humor, though meant to be familiar and endearing during a challenging time, comes off as a a little offhand, given the circumstances. Though the play, and the actor, carry it off reasonably well, there is something in that tone that does not always hit its mark.

Nonetheless, there is an evolution to the play that makes a good deal of sense. As the mother learns more about her daughter’s life and delves into some of its details, she comes to understand them better and to come to terms with them. A stereotypically broad portrayal of the Jewish mother, in this context, thus makes its point – even she can see the more pervasive light in some way, despite her traditional cultural contextualization.

The ruse of the mother talking offstage as though to the husband who is constantly in the bathroom gives occasion for her revelations, but the gimmick only goes so far. It serves its narrative purpose, but eventually seems a bit far-fetched.

In the current triad of plays performed by single women as part of the Second Annual Next Rep Black Box Festival, the New Rep has thoughtfully pioneered several interesting productions, of which this promising and suggestive work is one. The theme of God’s Box – expansion of one’s traditional views about religion and culture – is replete with significance, and this vehicle for demonstrating it is, despite its sometimes odd mix of tonalities, interesting, oddly funny, and ultimately penetrating.

– BADMan