Leaves of Glass

This play is a dark, intriguing delight. Incidents are described differently by each of the characters so it is unclear whether they are challenging truths, telling half-truths, mis-remembering, mis-interpreting and telling downright lies. The nuances set up questions in our minds, and Director Max Harrison and the cast have no wish to make the answers easy for the audience. It’s straight through without interval at about 100 minutes

Steven claims he always tried to be a good person, working hard and caring for his family. Then, as he tries to rescue his brother from alcoholic despair, everything starts to go wrong. His wife accuses him of being unfaithful. His mother accuses him of being manipulative and uncaring. His brother, Barry, has secrets which they have never talked about. And when they start to talk, Steven’s world starts to unravel.

Ned Costello (Steven) runs the show but as it progresses, we become increasingly unsure that he is a reliable witness. Initially calm and reasonable, we can see his mind scheming as he prowls around the stage. Rarely at rest, he slowly reveals the discomfort beneath his apparently successful life. Costello shows great control in presenting a complex character.

As his wife, Debbie, Katie Buchholz proves a powerful foil for him while, as her pregnancy develops, we begin to doubt their relationship. Their power struggle culminates in a simple “On? Or off?” dialogue about the light which begins as comedy, but becomes ominous. I loved her awkward moves when heavily pregnant and that she maintained them when changing set between scenes. She also offered a credible love/tolerance towards her mother-in-law.

Initially, I though Kacey Ainsworth looked too young to be the boys’ mother, Liz, but as the story progressed, she visibly aged. She added some refreshing weighted comedy moments, yet her ditzy attitude leads us to suspect that her story was not as simple as she would have us believe. Carefully nuanced work.

Joseph Potter, as Barry, gave us powerful extremes as the catalyst forcing change on the family. Delightfully damaged yet eager as a puppy, he returned as the rational brother later, and as truths possibly began to be told, he persuasively twisted the account of the past to confound the audience once again. A fascinating, intense performance.

Fast natural conversations sped us through the scenes, never too long, just enough to give us some selective information. The boy’s relationship is what drives the play yet we never find the absolute truth of the past. Their fights are effective, as is the way they break off as mother comes in. Director Harrison uses light and dark literally and metaphorically to develop in candle-light the intrigue in the stark writing Finally, they talk to each other, but do they listen? A spare soundscape added to the atmosphere.

A baby’s cry signals the end of the play, but will it be the end of this damaged family’s struggles with the truth? Or will the past return to haunt them again?

Derek Benfield