PERFORMANCE NETWORK’S BECKY SHAW STIMULATES, ENTERTAINS, TITILLATES, AND SATISFIES

Last week, I saw the premiere of Becky Shaw at the Performance Network: funny, touching and troubling, it gives us five interesting (frightening in one case) characters and five outstanding performances, with perfect timing and pacing under the direction of Phil Powers.

The characters are richly drawn by playwright, actors, and director. Sarab Kamoo and David Wolber, play non-siblings who were raised together, have a complicated relationship, and let us peer into to every nook and nuance of it. Wolber’s Max and Kamoo’s Suzanna are obviously damaged. He hides his insecurities behind manly bravado but lives as a responsible man, the picture of the Yiddish “Mensch.” She lives through her insecurities but leaves us with the feeling that she’s going to be all right.

 Only the title character (Maggie Meyer) dismays and confounds, a stone idly tossed into a pond, making ripples that radiate from the point of impact, a playwright’s shortcut, like the crazy neighbors in A Delicate Balance or the goat in “The Goat.”

The script leaves the conclusion of the story in doubt, which is far better than a forced happy ending, but suggests a conclusion which, as I understand it, would have sold out cheaply one of the characters. Can’t say more without ruining the second act for you, but since nothing seems final when the house lights go on, does it matter?

 Monika Essen turns in her usual excellent and serviceable sets: there isn't a false note anywhere in this production.

Once, I said to an actress friend that plays are about characters; she said, no; plays are about relationships. Either way, Becky Shaw draws us deeply into the lives of some very lively and very human people, a fine place to be for a couple of hours.