MARVIN’S ROOM

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

 

Rhode Island College Theatre’s current show is “Marvin’s Room” by Scott McPherson. It won the Outer Critic’s Award, the Drama Desk Award and the John Gassner Award for Best New American Play in 1992. The show is about two sisters, Lee, a wisecracking, psychologically unstable free spirit who has not helped with the caretaking and Bessie, who is their ill elderly father Marvin and their ill elderly Aunt Ruth’s saintly caretaker who has leukemia. Lee is the mother of two sons, one Hank, who is a disturbed teenager and Charlie, his younger brother. Bessie’s diagnosis and the possibility that one of them may be a match for a transplant is what brings them all together. It is comic show about a serious illness, but it is performed and written with humor amid the pathos. Director Connie Crawford makes sure the comic moments as well as the dramatic moments come to life through the college performers. The show is a series of fourteen vignettes and Connie brings out the best in her cast, creating a splendid show with heart for the audience to savor and enjoy.

The set is by Katryne Hecht while the costumes are by Marcia Zammarelli. Maria Cabral handles the demanding role of Bessie excellently. She plays the long suffering but resilient Bessie, who we see from the humorous scenes of opening in the doctor’s office and with her aunt to the poignant moments in the hospital and with her sister and nephews. Maria appears in almost every scene of the show and makes each moment count. She appears without her wig in one scene to show how the effects of the disease and a lighter moment occurs during a happier time when she was in love with her carny barker. Bessie wants to bring the same kind of happiness to her dying father by using a carnival type light to brighten his life and finally showing her love for her father and aunt. Maria makes Bessie into a sympathetic character that the audience adores for handling a dark situation with humor and optimism.

Madison Ramsay as Aunt Ruth steals almost every scene that she’s in. She wears a gray wig and makes the doddering aunt with a bad back into an hilarious character. Some of the comic moments include the robotic device implanted into her back that makes the garage open, she loves soap operas and thinks Pluto at Disney World is a gopher. Another strong performance is given by Mia Ceglie as Bessie’s sister, Lee. She makes this hard shelled woman soften when she deals with her sister’s illness later in the show. One of her best moments occurs when she finally admits to her son, Hank that she knew his father beat him and she took things out on Hank by yelling at him. Her emotional breakdown and renewed connection to him and Bessie is excellent. Some comic moments include her stealing candy and yelling at her sons.

The two actors who play Lee’s sons in the show do fantastic work, too. Andrew Holowienka makes Hank, the tough juvenile offender who has burnt down his mother’s house into a likeable kid by the end of the show. His scenes with Bessie, his mother and Charlie shows his true love for them. Hank runs away when he feels he’s failed to give Bessie the bone marrow that she needs but eventually realizes he needs the love of his family at last. Andrew makes the transition from tough to nice believable and delivers an emotion packed performance. Elijah Swain plays Charlie, the book loving and school hating younger brother. His interactions with the other cast member is terrific. One of his funniest lines is “Can I watch Grandpa breathe?” while his most poignant when he gives Hank’s note to Bessie after Hank ran away.

Other comical cast members include Michaela Pendola as Dr. Wally who calls everyone by the wrong name, Emily Fleet as Dr. Charlotte who plays Hank’s shrink and also plays the bitchy, Southern Retirement Home Director who tells them they have to become destitute to afford to put their father and aunt there, Yunus Quddus plays the narrator and Marvin who is never scene onstage but through a translucent scrim and Ellen Porde as Wally’s dimwitted sister. So for a marvelous production, be sure to catch “Marvin’s Room” at Rhode Island College. The audience learns what it’s like to be caretakers of our elderly relatives.

MARVIN’S ROOM (23 February to 4 March)

Rhode Island College, Forman Theatre, 600 Mount Pleasant Avenue, Providence, RI

1(401)456-8144 or www.ric.edu/mtd