Killers and Other Family by Lucy Thurber

Riveting.

Writing, Acting, Direction, Set-Design. All cohesive. All played to maximum effect in this violently engaging slice of tumultuous life written by Lucy Thurber.

Set in a cheerful but compact living room in New York (I'm guessing West Village?). Surprises abound on the set (Designed by John McDermott) from a bright pop of color through tinted glass set in French doors at stage center, to the clever detail of a small shaft window overlooking a brick wall on the opposite side. Lizzie (Samantha Soule) is present as the audience settles in. She's pouring over books, legal pads, and typing with concentration on a laptop. Preparations in a neat and tidy world.

"Tidy" is hardly a word for New York however, and the complicated people that inhabit it. Shortly after the play starts that tidiness is challenged by the arrival of Lizzie's brother Jeff and his best friend Danny. The visit is anything but ordinary, and old wounds are quickly reopened. What ensues is a complex and cleverly crafted unraveling of origin. Not a single word is without use in the compact piece. The burning question that presents itself so loudly is: Can one transcend their beginning?

The play is part of Thurber's "Massachusetts Cycle" in which she reveals "the individual journey from the reality of rural Massachusetts to the world that surrounds us now...". Indeed, Killers and Other Family , the fourth in a the cycle of five, brings that rural life crashing into the present in a poignent and jarring manner. Explored are themes of power, raw sexuality, intellect, poverty vs. wealth, and the ache of unsurpressable longing.

The one reservation I have is the choice not to give the country men their native Massachusetts accent, but rather a subtler almost southern sense. Surely, there's a difference between rural New England and rural South. The choice, I would imagine may well have been made to avoid a Good Will Hunting essence. I'll be the first to admit (revealing my origin) that a Massachusetts accent contains certain traces of accidental humor.

The cast is a revelation. Earnest, and without reserve.

Don't expect an easy ride. It's roughly 90 minutes, and you'll be embroiled from start to finish. It will demand attention. It will demand searching. It will question unapologetically.

What New Yorker doesn't like a good challenge? I dare you to go.

INFO:
Killers and Other Family by Lucy Thurber
9/17 through 10/17
at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre
224 Waverly Place
www.rattlestick.org