Premiering at the Aurora Theatre this past week was local playwright Anthony Clarvoe’s “Our Practical Heaven” — a family dramedy consisting of a mere cast of six female characters differing greatly in terms of generations and personalities but strung together by the word “family”. Think “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood” with an even more modern feel and a whole lot of bird-watching — tackling, in true 21st-century fashion, issues such as rising sea levels, autoimmune diseases and capitalism. The work originated as part of the Aurora Theatre Company’s Global Age Project back in 2011, and its world premiere coincides with the current eighth Annual GAP Festival. Clarvoe is well-known regionally for his previous theatrical works, such as “Pick Up Ax,” “Show and Tell” and “Ambition Facing West”.
The charm of “Our Practical Heaven” lies mostly in its palette of familiar yet very distinct characters — all of whom come together on three separate holidays to their family’s oceanside vacation home, which doubles as a slipping refuge of sorts, among changing tides in each of their lives. While there is talk of men, there are no male characters present in the production. There’s the ailing, senile matriarch grandmother, Vera (played by the delectable Joy Carlin); the overbearing middle-aged mother of technology-obsessed 20-somethings, Sasha (played by Anne Darragh); and her two daughters, the young activist Suze (played by Blythe Foster) and the quirky, college-bound Leez (played by Adrienne Walters). On the extended side of the family, there is Sasha’s headstrong lifelong-friend-slash-“honorary sister” (as the characters put it), Willa (played by Julia Brothers) and her estranged daughter, Magz (played by Lauren Spencer), who suffers from a chronic illness that causes her unbearable physical pain. The women fight and make up, break down and act up and are all strangely infatuated with birds. They birdwatch, they dream about birds, they talk about birds.
All in all, the play revolves around “decay” and “miscommunication.” Each generation of women struggles greatly to connect with the next. This is particularly noted in the younger women’s frequent texting to gossip about their mothers; Clarvoe makes use of this by projecting all of their conversations on the backdrop of the scene. The excessive use of this technology takes away from the allure of the production. Although, to give credit where credit is due, Clarvoe makes sure to fully define each relationship between the women through precise execution of placement, movement and speech.
While there is a very dramatic factor to “Our Practical Heaven” and the overall story at hand, the comedic timing of the dialogue and nondialogue is absolutely on point. From Vera’s poignant one-liners to Sasha’s many panic-induced freak outs, the humor conveyed in the dramedy keeps the mood light. On the other hand, the more dramatic scenes are largely fragmented in terms of purpose and deliverance.
“Our Practical Heaven” explores the overarching theme of family — the good, the bad and the ugly. Furthermore, it concludes rather abruptly amid some unresolved tensions. While the two-hour-long play makes for a fairly enjoyable evening at the theater, the story lacks an overall direction and objective, and ultimately, there is nothing that stands out too much in terms of memorability and fascination.
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