BROADWAY SNAP-SHOT
by Russell Bouthiller

Dateline: 15 November 2004

'NIGHT MOTHER

Marsha Norman's Pulitzer-winning, two-character play, 'NIGHT MOTHER, asks the question: whose life is it, anyway? Beginning a 19 week limited engagement at the Royale Theatre under the direction of Michael Mayer, 'NIGHT MOTHER stars Brenda Blethyn as Thelma Cates and Edie Falco as her daughter, Jessie, living in real time a most final moment.

Gathering up candy and methodically sorting it into containers, Jessie whirls about set designer Neil Patel's very suburban kitchen. Engineering the domestic landscape with a Martha Stewart-styled exactitude, one might think this woman could do just about anything, but she can't even hold down a job. That's just one of her failings.

Jessie has added up her stock, tallied the pluses and minuses, and come to the conclusion that her life is not worth living anymore. Plagued with epileptic seizures for as long as she can remember, she has become a virtual shut-in. Weighed down by the guilt of being a neglectful mother and washout wife, she has no tangible successes to encourage her to press on. Using a bus ride as her metaphor, Jessie feels that the time has come to get off.

Thelma's perspective on life is the complete opposite Jessie's and she is driven to despair by her daughter's suicidal intentions. Frantically pleading with Jessie to change her mind, Thelma tries to get her to appreciate life. But, the more Thelma tries, the firmer grows Jessie's resolve. While Thelma views it as a gift with quantitative value, Jessie sees life in strictly qualitative terms. Her existence is something she has the absolute right to conduct, control and conclude.

Brenda Blethyn, the Oscar-nominated British actress who gained wide recognition stateside for her performance in the Mike Leigh film "Secrets and Lies," assumes a bland Mid-western lilt to flesh out her image of Thelma. She's a simple woman and ill-prepared to contend with her daughter's existential malaise and Blethyn shows her frustrations effectively.

Edie Falco, widely known for her role as Mafia-wife Carmella in the hit HBO series, "The Sopranos," strips away the nail varnish and lacquered hair to present a bland character worn down by inertia. Her Jessie prepares the rest of her mother's life by organizing the cookware and dispensing her medication with a dogged calmness and she maintains this stride to the very end.

Marsha Norman's ' NIGHT MOTHER was originally staged in 1983 with Anne Pitoniak and Kathy Bates and earned four Tony nominations. It was later adapted into a motion picture, featuring Sissy Spacek and Anne Bancroft. Two decades ago, 'NIGHT MOTHER shocked and moved audiences with its audacity to challenge the conventional wisdom on the subject of suicide. In the new millennium, a definitive answer as to be or not to be still remains elusive.