by Tony Annicone
The New England Premiere of “You Got Older”, winner of the 2015 Obie Award for playwriting is the second Clare Barron play presented at the Wilbury Theatre Group. Told in a series of vignettes, Barron blends reality with the fantasies of the main character, Mae, who has returned home to care for her father who has just been diagnosed with cancer. Mae is recovering from a broken relationship, the loss of her job, a strange rash that won’t go away, and a recurring fantasy about a sexy blond Cowboy. Mae has two sisters and a brother who come visit their dad in the hospital. There’s also Mac, a male friend of her sister, Hannah. It seem like she has much in common with Mac, but in times of stress or anxiousness she escapes into a fantasy world of the handsome cowboy who takes her mind off the troubles that she is currently facing about the seriousness of her father’s illness. Mae and her siblings discuss trivial matters with each other in front of their sick father, and even some sex talk that is hilarious. The scenes with Mac and the cowboy bring some levity to the proceedings. Director Wendy Overly molds her seven member cast into these characters marvelously and makes us confront a dramatic part of our lives when dealing with a parent’s final illness. She brings out the best in each of her cast members.
Rachel Dulude commands the stage as Mae and runs the gamut of emotions in this role. She is onstage in every scene and we watch her superb transitions from the first scene attending to the peppers in her father’s garden, to her meeting Mac in a bar, to her fun filled fantasies with the cowboy, to a picnic with her siblings at the hospital, to an angry argument with her father and the dramatic, heartbreaking phone call from her father at the end of the show. Dulude delivers a tour de force performance in this enormous role. Jim O’Brien plays the patient and understanding father who is dealing with a life and death situation. He seems adjusted to going to the hospital in Seattle for his treatments and is slowly adjusting to his daughter living with him. The father/daughter relationship is lifelike and excellently portrayed, with brilliant performances by the leading players.
The rest of the cast does a wonderful job in their roles, as well. David Rabinow is a hoot as Mac, the man that Mae talks to in the bar. He becomes involved in her life in a bedroom scene that has to be seen to be believed. Teddy Lytle is hilarious as this naughty and bawdy Cowboy who brings fleeting joy and happiness to the overwhelmed caretaker, Mae. She yearns for companionship, not having had sex in a very long time. Her dalliances with both men are the comic moments needed to temper the dramatic ones.
Rounding out the cast as Mae’s siblings are Beth Alianiello, Rachel Tondreault and Zachary Gibb. Their banter with Rachel in the hospital scene rings true of relatives in a sickroom as they discuss how knitting a scarf for someone is bad luck, the musty odor of the family and how one of them has to get married so that they can have a dance party. So if you’re looking for a show that will display deep seated emotions in families facing the illness of a parent that is dealt with in a comic and dramatic manner, be sure to catch “You Got Older” at Wilbury Theatre Group, to witness superb acting and direction. It will definitely resonate with audience members who have lived through situations like this in real life.
YOU GOT OLDER (1 to 22 December in repertory with Dance Nation)
Wilbury Theatre Group, 40 Sonoma Court, Providence, RI
1(401)400-7100 or www.thewilburygroup.org
