"The Father: A Tragic Farce"

This weekend I had the chance to go see the play “The Father: A Tragic Farce” presented by The J.T. & Margaret Talkington College of Visual & Performing Arts School of Theatre & Dance. The play is by Florian Zeller with translation by Christopher Hampton and this production is directed by Dayday Robinson.

This show was in the new Black Box Theatre, only the second one performed in the space. The first, “Doctor Love” was a very different play. This one, while definitely still funny, also dealt with a much more serious subject.

Justin McKean plays André, an elderly man coming to terms with the fact that he has dementia and is slowly losing parts of his memory. McKean was also in “Doctor Love” so I have seen him perform before but was impressed with his whole presence as André. He actually came out a few minutes before the crowd was finished seating and just kind of looked around the living room set. His physicality, with the shuffled footsteps and shaking arm, were spot on and really helped to sell the character.

André’s daughter Anne is played by Lydia McBee Reed and she does an excellent job of portraying the love and frustration she feels towards her father as his mind starts to go. This part couldn’t have been easy because she has to be able to go from such extreme emotions in just a few moments, from being loving with her boyfriend (not to be confused with her husband) to protective of her father to having dreams about his death.

Steven Weatherbee plays Pierre, Anne’s boyfriend. He was also in “Doctor Love” and plays a drastically different part. It’s interesting to see the range that these actors are able to pull off. Pierre is trying to deal with his girlfriend and her father and is honestly having a difficult time of it. Pierre and Anne were supposed to take a long trip, but had to cancel because of André and that’s just the beginning of the two men’s challenging relationship.

Laura, a caretaker hired to help out with André, is played by Kaylee Underwood. She is sweet and understanding as Laura and does a great job of really feeling like a person who is just trying to help out in a trying situation.

Emily Pritchard and Hunter Lovering round out the cast as Woman and Man, respectively. I don’t want to give too much away about their characters because it is a very neat effect, but know that they do their parts admirably and do a great job of helping to build the world of “The Father.”

The play, while dealing with some super heavy subject matter, does manage to be quite funny as well. Though, if I’m honest, I felt bad for laughing at a few parts because I didn’t want it to seem like I was making fun of the character. It does do a good job of sprinkling in the humor so that you aren’t bogged down by the serious subject matter.

The set, designed by Kelly Murphey, was very well done. It was relatively simple, just a living room, but it was beautiful and seemed very grounded in reality for a room with no walls. There was a really neat effect with the set where in between scenes, when the lights would go down, parts of the scenery (a chair here, a table there) would slowly be taken from the set. It was a great visual metaphor for what André is going through where he is literally losing parts of his memory.

The lighting by Rafael Aviles and sound design by Abraham Millan deserve praise too. There was very little music in the show, but between scenes there would often be swirls of sound, including music mixed with dialogue from the scenes we’d just witnessed. It was a very neat effect and was kind of disorienting, in the best possible way.

The lighting was very standard, though well done, for the most part. Where it really got to shine (sorry) was during a few dream sequences where André would appear in the balcony and there would be lightning and thunder while Anne gave a speech about her dream. It’s kind of hard to explain, but it was really cool to experience.

Robinson did a hell of a job directing this show, pulling out great performances from the small cast. Add that with the choices in light and sound and you’ve got an excellen show. Definitely worth checking out if you get a chance.

“The Father: A Tragic Farce” will be showing for one more weekend, November 21st-24that Texas Tech’s new Black Box Theatre. For more information, visit http://www.depts.ttu.edu/theatreanddance/ and be sure to check out our schedule for more arts coverage here at PBS Texas Tech Public Media.