KAZAN Co-op brings American playwright Will Eno’s 2012 play The Realistic Joneses, to the Park Place Theatre in Halifax until May 19th, 2019. The play opened on Broadway in 2014 with the powerhouse cast of Tracy Letts, Toni Collette, Michael C. Hall and Marisa Tomei, and the Halifax production is also extremely well cast.
We are introduced to Jennifer (Kathryn MacLellan) and Bob Jones (Christian Murray), they are relaxing outside their home in a sort of “cottage country” small town; they have been married for many years but their ability to connect and communicate effectively with one another has become strained since Bob was diagnosed with a rare congenital illness. Jennifer has thrown herself valiantly into the caregiver role and has begun to micro-manage every aspect of their new normal. Bob has become withdrawn and moody. Suddenly they are happened upon by another set of Joneses, their new neighbours, John (Matthew Lumley) and Pony (Gil Anderson), a more recently married couple whose entire lives seem as fragile as a house made of crystal built on the edge of cliff made from Jell-O. John seems sarcastic and apathetic toward everything, and he has a self professed inability to express himself with words, which is, understandably, awkward. Pony, on the other hand, takes things literally and seriously, and seems like she is continually being wounded and overwhelmed by a callous world. Jennifer and Bob are initially baffled by them, but, inexplicably, something draws the four of them together and they discover that they have more in common than they had originally thought. There is something in connecting sideways through a verbal maze of mind fucks that helps all four, each one longing to do so on his or her own terms.
Kathryn MacLellan is excellent at infusing Jennifer with a strong dose of what, I think many would see as “common sense.” She keeps trying to centre the conversations back to what she sees as “logic,” and seeks to be helpful, to find solutions to problems, to stay optimistic, and to maintain a facade of functionality, despite the fact that she is often overwhelmed, scared and frustrated. Yet, she also has a lot of empathy, and when she speaks with John it not only allows her to be more vulnerable, but we also see her trying to meet his thoughts with understanding and compassion, whether or not she completely understands what he means. Matthew Lumley plays the shallowness of John’s sarcasm, evasiveness, and a bluntness that often comes across as devoid of empathy, but also suggests that beneath the surface is someone who really needs someone to reach out to him and to help care for him. His friendship with Jennifer is rooted in the fact that she comes to recognize that aspect of him.
Christian Murray’s Bob is a poignant portrait of a man who is emotionally stunted; he is smart and well intentioned, but he has, obviously, been used to delegating all the emotional labour in his life to Jennifer and has recently realized that he is unequipped to maturely and effectively deal with the depth of his feelings surrounding his illness. There is a wonderful scene where Bob and John try to connect with one another, just as two men going through a similar difficult situation, and despite their willingness, they don’t know how to do it. It’s like watching two bricks smacking gently into each other. It reminded me of an article I read recently by Melanie Hamlett called “Men Have No Friends and Women Bear the Burden,” and, in fact, that title is one of the play’s themes very astutely summed up. Unsurprisingly, it’s Pony that Bob (awkwardly) finds a way to connect with, in a strange sort of paternal (ish) way. She feels everything acutely and, although she seems to feel very strongly for everyone else, she literally seems too consumed by her own feelings so she doesn’t have any room for anyone else’s. Gil Anderson is brilliant in this role. Everything about Pony is slightly off-kilter and Anderson still manages to root her in her truth, while being both a comic heartbeat and an emotional heartbeat of the play.
Will Eno’s writing is very funny, truths come out in the strangest ways, and the poignancy is unexpected but powerful. Bryden MacDonald directs the piece masterfully, doing a great job of creating three separate spheres of space to bring us from one Jones house to another, and then into the town, all on a small stage. Eno doesn’t offer us any clear cut answers in this play, there is no one clear message, but for me, the most resonant and enduring image was the play’s ending, where we see that despite the fact that these individuals are very different, and despite the fact that they don’t find it easy to connect or communicate with one another, necessarily, with some effort, empathy, and kindness, they end up finding a little bit of comfort with one another during a trying time in their lives. In a world that is so divisive, and seems to becoming more so by the day, this seems like a powerful, revolutionary act.
KAZAN’s production of Will Eno’s The Realistic Joneses plays at the Park Place Theatre (5480 Point Pleasant Drive, Halifax) until May 19th, 2019. The last performance is May 19th at 2:00pm, tickets are $25.00 (plus tax and fees) and are available at this website.
