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.

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