Letts' 'Mary Page Marlowe' an exceptional portrait of ordinary life
The shortest distance between two points may be a straight line. But the indirect route is a more provocative path as evidenced by Tracy Letts' artfully crafted, introspective “Mary Page Marlowe,” in its world premiere at Steppenwolf Theatre.
An exceptional portrait of an unexceptional life, “Mary Page Marlowe” reunites Letts with fellow ensemble member Anna D. Shapiro, who earned a Tony Award for directing his more riotous examination of family dysfunction, 2008's Pulitzer Prize-winning “August: Osage County.”
This latest effort is more subdued. Thoughtful and well-written, it unfolds briskly as a series of vignettes and ends abruptly - a misstep in an otherwise compelling work.
Letts has said Shapiro has no equal when it comes to interpreting new plays, and her articulate, delicately balanced production of “Mary Page Marlowe” supports his claim. In a play where six actresses play the same character, the exquisite continuity of their performances - in cadence, gesture and expression - testifies as much to Shapiro's sensitivity as it does to the actors' skill.
Mary Page Marlowe is a certified public accountant from Dayton, Ohio, whose life is marked by bad decisions (not all of them her own), unrealized goals, small pleasures and satisfying work. Over its course, she endures indifferent parents, has three husbands and two children, weathers professional setbacks, battles addiction and copes with tragedy.
Letts' protagonist lives an ordinary life, which the playwright eloquently and succinctly chronicles in its totality. Nothing about “Mary Page Marlowe” feels superfluous. In just under 90 minutes, we get all the information we need, just not in chronological order.
Don't be put off by the nonlinear narrative. In her production notes, Shapiro compares the narrative order to the randomness of life viewed by sifting through “a stack of out-of-order photographs.” Indeed, Sven Ortel's projections recall faded black-and-white photographs while Todd Rosenthal's backdrop of empty picture frames suggests Mary Page Marlowe remains inscrutable even after our intimate glimpses into her life.
Piecing together her life puzzle - the way Mary pieces together her clients' lives from their tax receipts - is among the play's rewards. Each scene reveals where she is at that moment and how she got there. And although Mary changes over time, her earlier incarnations remain with her, a point Shapiro makes by showing us shadows of Mary's other selves from behind a scrim.
The play opens as forty-something Mary (Rebecca Spence) informs son Louis (Jack Edwards) and daughter Wendy (Madeline Weinstein, a perfect whiny teen) they will be moving to Kentucky after the divorce.
We next meet college-age Mary (Annie Munch), whose roommate is reading her tarot cards. This Mary believes anything is possible. Or is it? “The cards have already been dealt,” observes a friend, suggesting free will has no place in a deterministic world.
Tony Award-winner Blair Brown plays Mary in later life, happily married to the genial Andy (Alan Wilder).
Carrie Coon, Letts' wife, plays 36-year-old serial adulteress Mary, who confesses to a psychiatrist (Kirsten Fitzgerald) a lifetime of disappointment spent going along instead of charting her own course.
Laura T. Fisher is Mary at 50. Remarried to salesman Ray (Ian Barford), she is an alcoholic facing prison for a third DUI.
Finally there is Caroline Heffernan's 12-year-old Mary. She serves as bartender for mom Roberta (an icy, brittle Amanda Drinkall), whose ex-husband (Stephen Cefalu Jr.), a shellshocked, World War II vet, is out of their lives.
Sure, several actresses sharing a single role is a gimmick, but Shapiro's superb cast makes it work.
Fisher, who reflects the self-awareness Mary's younger selves sought, delivers a blazing performance as a woman determined to accept responsibility for her crime. Spence's middle-aged mom reveals admirable honesty and fortitude. Coon's wrenching performance as a woman burdened by disappointment is most powerful in its expression of the pain she can't articulate.
Brava to Coon and her fellow Marys, whose luminous performances make memorable theater out of an imperfect life.
“Mary Page Marlowe”
★ ★ ★ ½
Location: Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago, (312) 335-1650,
Showtimes: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 3 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday through May 29. Also 2 p.m. May 11, 18 and 25; 1:30 p.m. May 29. No shows May 14; no 7:30 p.m. show May 29
Tickets: $20-$89
Running time: About 85 minutes, no intermission
Parking: $11 in the Steppenwolf Theatre garage next to the theater or metered street parking
Rating: For adults, contains mature subject matter and language