Photo by Michael Brosilow
Steppenwolf has been known since its inception as an actors’ theatre, even in its first years performing at a rented space in a Unitarian church in Deerfield, but even this hallowed company has never before found anything like the show that is currently on its stage. It’s not often that a single show provides three different actors this kind of tour de force opportunities, but that is quite accurately the way to describe Mia Chung’s powerful and unusually structured Catch As Catch Can.
In this play, three actors (ensemble members Gary Cole, Audrey Francis, and Tim Hopper) each play two different roles—without regard to age or gender—and tend to switch characters on the fly. From the opening scene, a rather long dialogue between Cole and Hopper, the audience can easily see that something interesting is afoot. It may take some a beat or two (or ten) to realize that these actors are playing two suburban housewives and decades-long friends as they sit drinking coffee and discussing the latest news about their families.
The catalyst for this conversation is the return of a prodigal son: Theresa Phelan’s (Hopper) son Tim (also Hopper). Across her kitchen table, Roberta Lavecchia (Cole) commiserates with Tim’s mother about their children: both of their sons (Cole also plays Robert, the younger Lavecchia) have fallen for Korean women—the conversation veers into a few racist characterizations—and Roberta’s daughter Daniela (Francis) has yet to “find herself.” Though we only meet the younger generation through their mothers at this point, Chung sets up the family as the main focus of her play. It’s likely too that, at some point during this opening scene, everyone in the audience will be clued in to the unusual casting.
Director Amy Morton keeps the scenes and dialogue moving swiftly throughout the play. This is especially notable with Francis, whose Daniela is a fairly typical Millennial but who also plays the Lavecchia patriarch Lon, adopting a gruff voice, a slow and lurching gait, and a demeanor that can only be summed up as “old man.” In several places, she switches roles suddenly in the middle of scenes: Lon says something and instantly Daniela is part of the response, or vice-versa. The effect is often comic, and the acting skills required are almost superhuman in some moments. (A stream of consciousness monologue spoken by Francis is the absolute high point of the show.)
Meanwhile, Cole’s portrayal of Robert provides a needed antagonist to the proceedings, while Hopper’s Tim becomes a huge aspect of the final sequences in a surprise development. All three actors are brilliant throughout.
Andrew Boyce’s scenic design is understated and very realistic, but its main selling point is that nothing in it pulls much attention away from the solid acting at the center of the play. The same can be said about Yuki Nakasi Link’s lighting and Mikhail Fiksel’s sound design. Izumi Inaba’s costumes make the character transitions easier and do not pull attention when there is no time to change. Even more than usual at Steppenwolf, this is a case in which the tech lives in support of the performances.
Not everyone will understand why Chung wrote her play in this structure, but (as Francis and co-Artistic Director Glenn Davis write in the program) it all underscores the precarious sense of self that we usually develop through interactions with our families. Daniela’s independence derives from Lon’s crankiness; Robert’s crassness comes from his mother’s racism and outspoken opinions; Tim’s emotional instability comes almost directly from Theresa’s quiet insecurity. Having these characters played by the same actors brings all of this home more easily.
In that program note, Davis and Francis declare that “we esteem (this play) to be one of the greatest feats of American playwriting of the last decade,” and it’s hard to argue the point. For the umpteenth time in the last fifty years, Steppenwolf has found itself a winner.
Catch As Catch Can is being presented by Steppenwolf Theatre Company through July 12. Tickets can be found at the Steppenwolf website. See our reviews or Theatre in Chicago for more information about this or other Chicago area plays.