On Golden Pond is rather more disconcerting than its general reputation implies. The play, by a 28-year-old Ernest Thompson, shows us a long-term marriage between a retired English professor and his patient wife. There’s a certain aww, cute aura about it that the play’s script frequently knocks off-kilter, if not intermittently obliterates altogether. Insight Theatre Company’s current interpretation gives such the off-kilter attitude center stage.
Joneal Joplin is Norman Thayer, who’s just arrived at the old family cottage on a lake in New England. His wife of 48 years, Ethel, is played by Susie Wall. Norman seems focused on his own aging and death. He’s irascible, and not in a charming way. Their only child, Chelsea (Jenni Ryan), hasn’t seen them in years, and considering Norman’s tongue, it isn’t terribly surprising. He talks so much about dying that we begin to wonder if he’s gotten a terminal diagnosis. Or is he just depressed, anger being a not-uncommon symptom of depression? No matter what the reason, he rails about and invokes stereotypes for groups like Jews, lesbians and Italian-Americans. Ethel cheerfully refers to him as “an old poop”.
Norman’s memory is beginning to slip beyond absent-mindedness, and Joplin’s handling of this reaches deep and hits home. It’s not the theme of the play, although it could have been. His truculent relationship with his daughter (Jenni Ryan), who arrives with her new boyfriend (Eric Dean White) and his 15-year-old son (Michael Pierce), and the far more balanced one with his wife are the core of things.
Joplin, a St. Louis mainstay for umpty-ump years, wears the role like a second skin, glaring one minute and distracted the next, but never seriously going after his wife the way he has his daughter. Wall is rather like the Maytag washer in the old commercial, mostly calm and utterly, totally reliable, but it’s far from a stagnant performance from her. Ryan’s Chelsea has little fire but that could be directorial choice, using it to placate her father. White, as her fiancee, is willing to speak up to Norman, asking a couple of pointed questions, but done in high WASP style. The bounciness comes from Pierce, who seems curious enough to give up his electronics and end up staying with the older Thayer’s while Chelsea and his father go to Europe. The engaging Pierce is fun to watch as he expands Norman’s vocabulary and learns to fish.
The cabin, from Matt Stuckel, looks comfy, with a fabulous electronic window, and Geordy Van Es’ lights are a good part of things. Particular kudos to Robin Weatherall’s sound, in a space where that sometimes is difficult. Please note that the pillars in this venue can interfere with sight lines, so theatre-goers need to choose their seats accordingly.
Trish Brown directed this first-rate ensemble. I just wish Thompson’s script looked more deeply at the trauma that dementia creates in a family.
On Golden Pond
through July 23
Insight Theatre Company
.ZACK
3224 Locust St.
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