“The Art of Burning” by Kate Snodgrass. Directed by Melia Bensussen. Costume Design: Kate Harmon Lighting Design: Aja M. Jackson Scenic Design: Luciana Stecconi Sound Design: Jane Shaw. Presented by The Huntington, Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, 527 Tremont Street, Boston through February 12.
by Michele Markarian
Patricia (Adrianne Krstansky) is a scary, angry, off-kilter painter. Her husband, Jason (Rom Barkhordar) has left her for his younger colleague, Katya (Vivia Font), and the two of them are duking it out for custody of their fifteen year old daughter, Beth (Clio Contogenis). Their family friend Mark (Michael Kaye) is acting as their mediator at Jason’s insistence, a fact that Patricia doesn’t appreciate. When Mark’s wife, Charlene (Laura Latreille) relays the story of a “friend” who’s having an affair, Patricia’s self-righteous and judgmental attitude about people who have affairs is alienating. Patricia is on a collision course, unhinged by the infidelity of Jason.
Patricia has also seen a production of “Medea”, which moves her to tears – not because she is upset by the murders, but because she feels Medea did what she did to protect her children from the evils of the world. Patricia has a lot to say about protecting one’s children; most of it is tripe. Her identification with the Medea story made my heart sink – would Patricia do the unthinkable and kill Beth, in order to “protect” her? When she shows up to sign her divorce papers in a shirt covered in red blotches that look suspiciously like blood, it appears that Patricia might indeed be following Medea’s trajectory.
Playwright Snodgrass makes some salient points about marriage, parenthood, and teenagers. Charlene, who has to withstand flak from Patricia about the mendacity of people who stay in marriages while having affairs, shoots back, “It’s the habit of marriage that’s deadening, not the lies”. Beth, the fifteen-year old, is filled with anxiety, dread and guilt – “The earth is dying! It’s dying and it’s our fault!” When Jason asks if she wants to take a vacation with him and his new lady love to Italy, she responds with “Ukraine, or Africa, or Syria” – her own privilege a burden. Patricia is confused by Beth’s use of the pronoun they to describe a singular friend (I can relate to this. My own son is much better versed in present pronouns than I am). And after failing to say the right thing to Beth after a disastrous date, Patricia goes into her own downward spiral over how she and Jason have let their daughter down in multiple ways.
While this is a feminist play, with Patricia somehow managing to pull it together and get past her anger, the character of Jason is not unsympathetic. Patricia is vexing. It is curious as to how these two ever got together in the first place, even as their first meeting in an art gallery is recreated onstage. Patricia’s attachment to Jason seems more out of duty than genuine affection. A more likely couple are Mark and Charlene, sharing a passionate make up kiss after Latreille delivers a showstopping monologue on her love for classical dramatists. This is a couple you can root for. Patricia and Jason are too wrapped up in themselves to make you believe they care about one another.
The cast is uniformly good, and director Bensussen keeps the action flowing. Somehow, despite the lies and misdemeanors – Patricia burns Jason’s roll top desk in the backyard and roasts marshmallows over the cinders with Beth – love burns at the end of the 85-minute piece, and all is forgiven. For tickets and information, visit: https://www.huntingtontheatre.org/
