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| L Chris Marquette - Amanda Brooks |
My recent circumstances have me in contact with a number of Ph.D.
students who answer both “yes” and “no” in response to a question, all in the
same sentence. The students are at times emotional and confused, but extremely
bright. All are in need of that one extra
push by an equally bright professor to get them focused, over the hump, and on
to their Ph.Ds.
There are a lot of tissues expended in this process. – The Narrator.
The Moth Theatre
Company presents Proof by David Auburn, directed by John Markland, and produced
by John Markland and Brenda Davidson. Proof is the winner of the Pulitzer Prize,
Tony Award, Drama Desk Award for Best Play, New York Drama Critics Circle
Award, and the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play and will be playing
through February 15, 2015.
Proof at the Moth is an outstanding play, featuring an
equally exceptional cast, giving us moments of brilliance, all in the name of
mathematics. But there are other themes in David Auburn’s carefully crafted
play, such as caring for the infirmed, dealing with depression, a competing sibling
rivalry, and gender bias, which are also addressed in grand fashion.
Maneuvering a mathematical life in the sacred name of
reckoning while trying to connect the arithmetical dots of life is a grand
theme in this play. (Puns intended) And
proof is an unwritten test from which all lives must pass. In this case, it is proving you are brilliant,
and proving you aren’t insane. In either
case, this proves to be an extremely difficult and problematic obstacle for our
main character to overcome.
As our play begins on the back porch of a Chicago home, he
just appears, from the middle of nothingness, as a bright glowing being with a
purpose, watching his clement daughter, sitting in his chair, in a daze or in a
dream, in the late hours of the evening thinking, always thinking, for a reason
that will become clear, or not.
“Can’t sleep?” – Robert
“Jesus, you scared me.” – Catherine
And so we begin, near the end, almost near the end in this
non-linear play, where Robert (John Cirigliano), a brilliant mathematician and former
University of Chicago professor, interrupts his daughter, Catherine (Amanda
Brooks), in the dead of night.
Catherine’s despairing reflections embraces her like the
comfortable family chair in which she sits this late evening as she waits outside
on her porch for Hal (Christopher Marquette), a recent Ph.D. and now a professor,
to finish his work and come downstairs.
But something’s a little different tonight. Robert has got a little surprise for his
daughter.
“Happy Birthday.” – Robert
“Dad.” – Catherine
“Do I ever forget?” - Robert
Robert presents Catherine with a champagne bottle and asks
if he should pop the cork but given their present circumstances, Catherine takes
matters under her control. Robert
mentions getting glasses but Catherine takes a swig from the bottle. She offers Robert some bubbly.
“Do you” – Catherine
“No, go ahead.” – Robert
And there Catherine sits, disheveled, sitting like she hasn’t
slept or bathed in quite a while, and there is not one single friend to comfort her on this
night. Robert has some lame idea about a
inviting a friend over, someone who moved away a number of years ago.
“What about Claire?” – Robert
“She’s not my friend, she’s my sister.
And she’s in New York. And I
don’t like her.” - Catherine
Claire (Felicity Price) is scheduled to arrive the following
day, coming to recombine with her sister in their time of need.
Well, why this night?
Robert says the best thing to do, when one is up late at
night, is mathematics. Catherine isn’t
keen on the idea. Suddenly Robert gets a
little upset with her - saying that she
is throwing her life away.
But after a little coaxing, Robert gets Catherine to do a
little math and we see she has a bright mathematical mind. But, Catherine has a hard
time believing in herself and at the age of 25, she believes she is beyond her
prime (a positive integer that is not divisible without remainder by any
integer except itself and 1, with 1 often excluded) while her father had already done
his greatest work by the age of twenty-four. It was about that age that Robert first showed
signs of losing his mental faculties, something Catherine worries about now,
speaking to her dead father.
“The simple fact that we can talk about this together is a good sign.”
– Robert
“ A good sign?” – Catherine
“Yes!” – Robert
“How could it be a good sign?” – Catherine
Yes, it is a bad sign given Catherine’s present
circumstances, and Catherine is wondering now if she losing herself or is
deplorably insane.
Robert mysteriously leaves and Hal enters moments later
saying he needs another week to go over Robert’s notebooks. Of course, Catherine is exasperated but Hal
says he’s got everything in order. He
tells her that Robert dated his notebooks, and he can take some home, read it,
and bring it back if it’s okay with her.
Catherine is not having any part of it. She says there’s nothing in all of the 103 notebooks. She says her father was a graphomaniac,
someone who has an impulse to write, and he wrote nothing but gibberish near
the end of his time.
Not to be undone Hal says he’s willing to go through all of
the notebooks.
“I’m prepared to look at every page.
Are you?” – Hal
“No, I’m not crazy.” – Catherine
Hal, with amatory speculations, changes the subject and
invites Catherine to hear his band of merry math geeks. He plays the drums and promises he won’t sing. Catherine is not interested since it’s late
at night.
Hal lets it slip that if he could produce one-tenth of what
her dad produced, “I could write my own
ticket.”
Catherine is suddenly suspicious, demands to see his
backpack as proof that he is not stealing any of her father’s work. Her search of his bag comes up empty. But when Hal grabs his jacket one of her father’s
notebook drops from his coat.
Catherine immediately runs to the phone and calls the police. Hal tries to calm her down and gives her a
reasonable explanation why he is doing what he is doing. She hangs up and, as
Hal is leaving, a police siren is heard in the background.
Later, the following morning, Claire, Catherine’s sister,
has arrived with her brazen sincerity in tow and is making breakfast, well – she
bought stuff at the local market. Claire,
taking charge, has an agenda and is deliberate when pouring milk into Catherine’s
coffee moments after Catherine said she wanted hers black.
“How are you feeling about everything?” – Claire
“About “everything”? – Catherine
“About Dad.” – Claire
Obviously Claire is overly concerned about Catherine’s well
being, her mental status, her altercation with the police, and the strange unidentified
being called “Harold Dobbs.” She has already taken steps to sell the house and
move her sister to New York where she will be in good hands.
Catherine is not hipped to the idea and is slightly
disturbed, slightly being an understatement.
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| L - Amanda Brooks - Felicity Price |
John Markland,
the director, is exceptional when dealing with the small intimate moments, the
coming of two in the heat of passion. It
is during those moments that this production soars. The opening moment is spectacular and this
production is filled with those moments.
But there are slight problem with the first scene, the dead father and
daughter scene that provides little mysticism and offers us little more than a typical
father/daughter scene. Strengthening the
father/daughter relationship as well as the teacher/student relationship are in
order. In a metaphorical manner of speaking, they need to find a way for the
little daughter to crawl into her father’s mathematical lap. There are two
scenes that speak loudly to me. One is Catherine
leaving for Northwestern without her father knowing about it, which presents
the emotional moving on with life; and two is Catherine reading Robert’s
theorem that is gibberish when Catherine realizes that her life, as she knows
it, is over.
Amanda Brooks
gives a wonderful performance as Catherine with a vocal texture that is
alluring and exciting. As the character,
Catherine is weary having spent the last five years taking care of her father
before his death. And as she speaks to him the night before his funeral, she casts
internal doubt on her own sanity. Catherine is lost, not knowing which
direction to turn. She knows she is brilliant, questions her sanity, and has to
fight off her sister and friend to prove herself. Elegantly dressed in a beautiful black dress, compliments to her sister for buying it, Catherine is now an alluring force to be reckoned
with. Brooks gives an outstanding
performance.
Felicity Price does
some amazing work as Claire. Claire is a currency analyst and believes in
firmly controlling her life. She offers
herself as the sibling who is mentally stable and willing to take care of her indolent
sister. Claire wants her sister to move to
New York City. Her objective is to get
her to New York first, get her an apartment, and have her looked at by some of
the finest mental doctors in the land. Hard to do when the sister is an
emotional roller coaster. But Claire keeps her composure through the chaos that
is her life right now. Claire has a different look than what I imagined a
currency analyst to look like (e.g. blouse, blazer, pearl necklace, skirt, and
shoes with not-so-high heels). Instead
she wears a thin summer dress and stiletto heels from which she negotiates a back
porch and a gravel walkway, with ease. Price, an Australian, has a spot on
American accent and a natural rhythm to her movements on stage. Negotiating the
trash on the back porch – I’m not sure what that was or how that moves the play
– but it all seemed so natural.
Chris Marquette
is exceptional as Hal. We first see him as a professor, and then as we go back
in time as a doctoral student in which he excels. Although a professor, he has a lot to learn about
accepting truth and not being so clueless and biased toward women in
mathematics. Marquette is wonderful in the world of small intimate moments and
catching his truth in those moments is what every theatregoer hopes to see. His
objective is strong and clear, and his inner conflict is his own worst enemy.
John Cirigliano
plays Robert the brilliant mathematician and father. There are moments that
ring true to his performance but there is more to add in character development
and shoring up the relationship with his daughter. A professor, and particularly one of this
caliber, is the smartest person in the room.
In his lucid moments, his voice commands the space; his thoughts express
a clear understanding of his expertise, and include an extreme desire to teach.
The opening scene does not ring true to the relationship with his daughter and it
slightly misses the humor of it all. Getting out of the chair several times is
not specific to the action. The character needs to strengthen his objective. His
daughter leaving him is an emotionally charged scene that does not strike to
the heart of the matter. It is
devastating for him and possibly sends him on a downward spiral.
Brenda Davidson does
a fine job as the producer.
Justin Huen
Scenic and Lighting Design work wonderfully in this space. Upstage center is a lamp, which serves at the
professor’s office, and reminds me of The Blue Room, also on this stage. The best vantage point to see the production
is near downstage far right where you are able to flow right into the home.
Daniel Coronel is
the Stage Manager.
Ken Werther Publicity
is the Publicist.
Max Barsness is
the Graphic Design.
The Moth Theatre is newly remodeled and looks wonderful.
Run! Run! Run! And take a professor with you.
Reservations:
323-609-3676
Moth Theatre
4359 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90029
(Entrance is behind the theatre on Heliotrope)
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