On the Shore of the Wide World - Sun Times review - It's a rave!

Here is Hedy Weiss' review of On The Shore of the Wide World.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

REVIEW | Emotional turmoil fuels rich British play

October 6, 2008

BY HEDY WEISS Theater Critic / hweiss@suntimes.com

Sometimes there is so much flamboyance and "high concept" in the theater that plays with a quieter, more deeply satisfying emotional richness get swallowed up in all the noise.

British playwright Simon Stephens' "On the Shore of the Wide World," now receiving its U.S. debut by Griffin Theatre, is just such a quiet play, though there certainly is no shortage of emotional storminess driving its characters. The exceedingly gifted director, Jonathan Berry, and his ideally chosen, generation-spanning cast of 10 have homed in on the play's wonderfully crafted scenes, focusing all their energy on a truthfulness and intimacy that grows increasingly magnetic. There is some lovely, thoughtful acting here, full of genuine vulnerability.

Lucy Carapetyan plays the girlfriend in Manchester helping Alex
(Brian Deenen) grow up in Griffin Theatre's "On the Shore of the Wide World."

"On the Shore of the Wide World," winner of the 2006 Olivier Award for best new play, takes its title from a poem by John Keats that aches with mortality, loss and the ephemeral nature of love. And these sentiments figure heavily in the psyches of the Holmes family at the center of the play. In fact, each member of this family feels beached -- desperate to head out to sea, even if that means just taking a train from the suburbs to see a movie in the city.

At the chronological center of this working-class family from outside Manchester are Peter Holmes (Paul D'Addario), who carries on his dad's business of restoring old homes, and his wife, Alice (Elise Kauzlaric), whose college education was cut short years earlier by marriage and early pregnancy.

The couple had two sons: Alex (Brian Deneen), who recently has fallen for Sarah Black (Lucy Carapetyan), a beautiful, headstrong, troubled girl, and Christopher (Josh Schecter), a mischievous kid recently killed in an accident. Christopher's death is the catalyst for many of the family's already troubled relationships to implode, with Alex's grandparents -- the volatile, abusive Charlie (Norm Woodel) and his timid wife, Ellen (Ariel Brenner) -- caught up in their own problems.

Four "outsiders" fuel the instability as Sarah helps Alex move into manhood, as Alex's old pal (Christopher Chmelik) lures the young couple to try life in London, as Peter's pregnant client (Susan Reynolds) supplies a desperately needed ego boost and as John Robinson (Ian Novak) becomes a most unlikely "suitor" for Alice.

The whole story is played out amid the raw, minimalist beauty of Marianna Czaszar's set -- a battered, once grand hotel slated for demolition, and perfect for secret assignations. Think of it as a broken dream palace in a world where reality is often inescapable.

Click HERE to read Hedy's feature story on the play in the Sun Times.