Michael Shannon shines in A Red Orchid's 'Pilgrim's Progress'

Posted November 11, 2015 7:00 am

Jim (Michael Shannon) and Melissa McKee (Kristen Fitzgerald) manage their family dysfunction in an unusual way in A Red Orchid Theatre's world premiere of “Pilgrim's Progress” by Brett Neveu. Courtesy of Michael Brosilow

For anyone spending Thanksgiving with relatives or loved ones — which are not always the same thing — here's something to be grateful for: that you don't belong to a family like the McKees.

The McKees are a dysfunctional lot, and Brett Neveu chronicles the upper-middle class quartet in “Pilgrim's Progress,” a determinedly droll, dark domestic comedy in its world premiere at Chicago's A Red Orchid Theatre.

A big draw in director Shade Murray's razor-sharp production is longtime ensemble member Michael Shannon, an actor whose rising star power in Hollywood no doubt contributed to Red Orchid's sold-out run. But theater fans might want to add their names to the wait-list, and not just for Shannon's commanding, relentless performance. This show, one of the season's most anticipated, is well-worth seeing.

The title comes from “The Pilgrim's Progress,” John Bunyan's 17th-century religious allegory recounting an everyman's quest for salvation.

In a sense, the McKees take a similar quest, except the objective of this well-educated, hyper-articulate family isn't admission to a celestial paradise. Their more secular struggle involves managing their collective dysfunction, which they accomplish through a series of painstakingly articulated contracts (endlessly amended), which they use to resolve family disputes.

There's theater professor Jim (Shannon), his psychotherapist wife, Melissa (Kirsten Fitzgerald), their college student son Desmond (Ryan Bourque) and pregnant 18-year-old daughter Rania (Charlotte Mae Ellison). As the play opens, they are negotiating the terms under which high school senior Rania (the powerfully self-contained Ellison, a master of silence) will attend a Thanksgiving dinner hosted by a college buddy of Jim's no one seems to like.

Jim insists she share with some guests her story of surviving a bombing at the clinic where she went to have an abortion. The incident, which occurred several months earlier, prompted Rania to keep the baby.

Analytical Melissa (a funny, assured Fitzgerald) says Rania should remain silent if she wants. Desmond (a captivating, authentic Bourque), a soil science major dabbling in Transcendentalism, doesn't think the family should attend the party at all.

The problem (among many in this family) is they all tend to talk past each other. That's especially true of Shannon's combustible, controlling Jim, whose predisposition for directing family drama is confirmed in the play's closing moments.

A high-strung, borderline manic eccentric, the still-likable Jim peppers his conversation with references to William Shakespeare, Samuel Beckett, Edward Albee, Harold Pinter and Chicago's own Tracy Letts (whose “August: Osage County” gets an extended tip-of-the-hat from the playwright). Jim — played by Shannon with a shadow of self-doubt and disappointment — spends a lot of time recounting his theatrical triumphs, all of which are colored with regret over the path not chosen. Most of his success took place in college and involved Jim playing older characters, which required him to gray his hair, not unlike Shannon himself.

That is among the several deliciously meta-theatrical elements included in Neveu's dramedy.

While the theatrical references are a bit intoxicating, it's Neveu's shrewd, vibrant writing upon which audiences feast. Equally tasty is the play's sendup of intellectuals, therapists, liberals and theater artists. All of it is expertly prepared by Murray, who elicits perfectly palatable performances from his virtuoso cast.

Yet for all that, Neveu's banquet concludes quietly, with a postscript that serves as a kind of commiserative pat on the shoulder as if to say: Enjoy the holiday. And take comfort in the knowledge that this family is not your family.

Michael Shannon ("99 Homes," "Boardwalk Empire") returns to Chicago for A Red Orchid Theatre's world premiere of Brett Neveu's dark domestic comedy "Pilgrim's Progress," co-starring Kristen Fitzgerald, left, and Charlotte Mae Ellison. Courtesy of Michael Brosilow

A Thanksgiving family reunion reveals some dark family secrets in Brett Neveu's latest, "Pilgrim's Progress." A Red Orchid Theatre's world premiere stars ensemble members Michael Shannon, left, and Kristen Fitzgerald, along with Charlotte Mae Ellison and Ryan Bourque. Courtesy of Michael Brosilow

Film star Michael Shannon returns to his artistic home, A Red Orchid Theatre in Chicago, for the world premiere of Brett Neveu's "Pilgrim's Progress." Courtesy of Michael Brosilow

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★ ★ ★ ½

Location: A Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 N. Wells St., Chicago, (312) 943-8722 or <a href="http://aredorchidtheatre.org">aredorchidtheatre.org</a>

Showtimes: 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 4 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday through Dec. 13. Also 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13, and 7 p.m. Nov. 29. No show Nov. 26; no 8 p.m. show Saturday, Nov. 14

Running time: About two hours, with intermission

Parking: Limited street parking available, paid lots nearby

Tickets: $30-$35

Rating: For adults; strong sexual content and adult language

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