The Gift is a play in one act by Joanna Murray-Smith. Directed by Maria
Aitken.
Sadie -- Kathy Baker
Ed -- Chris Mulkey
Chloe -- Jaime Ray Newman
Martin -- James Van Der Beek
We
hustled into the Geffen Playhouse last Saturday night just as the last people
were being seated. “What’s this play about?” my husband asked. I didn’t have a
clue. Two couples meet at a resort I had time to read in the playbill before the
lights dimmed.
And, oh what couples they were. I’ve met them before at cocktail parties. Sadie
and Ed, wealthy and from L.A., are celebrating their 25th
anniversary. Sadie laments their settled ways and loss of passion. Ed either
hasn’t noticed, or he accepts it, and they both distract themselves with a frothy
consumerism. The other couple, Martin and Chloe, are still in love after eight
years of marriage. They're settled in New York, and are open, not in the least
condescending toward this older couple with whom, at first glance, they have
nothing in common.
Twist # 1: Although suburban and traditional,
Sadie and Ed have no children. Martin and Chloe are entrenched in the Manhattan
art scene: they have a four-year-old daughter.
The
four amuse themselves through a night of champagne, wine and mojitos. Sexual
innuendoes pop up, but thank goodness no one does anything about them because I
want to be surprised. With all that alcohol, they promise to be honest, and to always tell
the truth to one another. Both couples appear to be decent, well-meaning
people. Ed is voluble, as is Sadie. Chloe opens up more as the night
progresses, but Martin is removed, reticent: he holds back. They discuss jazz,
which is an abstract artform Ed understands, the subtleties of wine, raising a child in
the modern world, and conceptual art.
con·cep·tu·al art
Art in which
the idea presented by the artist is considered more important than the
finished product, if any exists.
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Ed,
who earned his fortune with woodworking machines, asks Martin about his latest
work: it's a giant glass cube with a hologram of a child inside it which will
be on display at Tate Modern. “Did you make the Cube?” Ed asks. Martin hired a
team to build it, because it's the idea behind it that's important (see
definition above and think of the LACMA rock, also known as the Levitated Mass). The couples plan a sailing outing the
next day. In a dramatic boating accident, Martin saves Ed's life.
It's a
life-altering event for everyone: a second chance. Ed wants to do something for
Martin. A gift is promised if only Martin and Chloe will name it. They plan a
reunion in one year.
Twist #2: They meet in L.A., and each couple
reveals their narcissistic side.
All of them want a
redo, to turn their lives back to a point where they found joy, not only in
each other, but in their dreams and aspirations. Sadie and Ed's passion for life and each other has been
reinvigorated, and Chloe and Martin discovered a new truth about themselves.
Chloe leads the way with a heart-warming story about their fostering of a dog
that they come to love. The dog returns to its owner. Chloe and Martin are sad,
even try to find loopholes which would allow them to keep the dog.
Then
. . . they get over it, even feel
relief that the pressure is off. The pressure of responsibility, or the
pressure of love? What's this have to do with the Gift, you might be wondering. Martin becomes
loquacious in revealing what they want, a trait which he had
exhibited previously only when discussing conceptual art.
Twist #3: Martin and Chloe want to give their kid to Sadie and
Ed.
con·cep·tu·al mo·ral·i·ty
Morality
in which an idea or behavior is neither good nor bad, right or wrong, but is validated by
the outcome, if one exists.
Martin
and Chloe love their daughter, but don't think they're good parents. What it
boils down to is that they're just not in the moment with her. The idea of her
is more real to them than the flesh and blood kid. That person is boring. A child as art is more important to
them than the child herself, and they know this is wrong . . . and not just for their child, but for them, as well. Ed gets all bent out of shape because
this is not a normal request, not traditional, not right! Yet, his character is one I can imagine saying that some
people should get a license to have children, or shouldn't have had them, or
should of given them to a more responsible set of parents.
In
an attempt to calm him down, Sadie' reminds him of the time when she became pregnant at age 18. “We were too
young to have children,” Ed says. My understanding is that their one chance at
parenthood was a joint decision not to go there. They had made a choice that
some people would abhor. Quiet reigned on the set and in the audience.
Twist
#4: Nothing is resolved.
The
last backdrop is a visual of that glass box with the child inside. We are
left to think either in the box or outside of it. The ending prompts the wish that the glass around the
perfect child will be broken with Ed and Sadie.
A promo on the Geffen website for this
play reads
"Murray-Smith has Oscar Wilde's gift for one-liners." Sounds like a
comedy, doesn’t it? While there are plenty
of laughs while they’re at the resort, I'd argue that The Gift is less a comedy
and more a morality play.
The actors were outstanding. Derek
McLane (scenes) and Howard Werner (media) designed the sets which are superbly
minimalist: L.A. skyline, beach sunsets, and even the storm so that the
emphasis was on the actors. John Gromada, sound
design, and Peter Kaczorowski, lighting, also added to the drama without
overwhelming it.
Conceptual Art Exposed:
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