“The Outgoing Tide” at 59E59 Theater A By Bruce Graham Directed by Bud Martin Reviewed by David Roberts Theatre Reviews Limited
When the tide goes out on the Chesapeake Bay, danger lurks for the living creatures left behind: vulnerability for the myriad of clams washed up on the shore that become “fresh seafood” in prestigious local Delaware restaurants; and double jeopardy for the humans left with raw emotions and hidden agendas strewn along the beach.
The detritus uncovered in Bruce Graham’s “The Outgoing Tide” is the fallout from the dysfunctional Concannon family’s meltdown after husband and father Gunner clashes with wife and mother Peg over Gunner’s present and future battles with dementia. Complicating the carnage is the presence of son Jack who Gunner has mysteriously invited for a visit to the family compound on the Bay.
Graham skillfully constructs believable conflicts that create connections. On the surface, “The Outgoing Tide” is about a retired Teamster trucker who is facing placement in a long-term care facility because of his encroaching dementia. However, except in a thank-you note in the program, dementia or Alzheimer’s is never mentioned. One could connect to Gunner’s struggle to stay out of the facility and broker his own deal. But that is only the most transparent level of the complex of conflicts Graham offers the viewer through the lens of Bud Martin’s skillful direction.
Beneath the surface of the undulating tide and churned up by its ebbs and flows are years of family system dystopia: Gunner and Peg married young after Peg became pregnant with Jack and the couple has managed to survive the vicissitudes of marriage with some semblance of grace; Gunner and Jack have had a tumultuous relationship and Gunner is feeling regret about the verbal and psychological abuse heaped upon Jack during his formative years; Jack, too, married young and has been unsuccessful in his attempts at parenting Tim.
Peg is unable to cope with Gunner’s mental unraveling and wants to place him in a long-term care facility. Weary of years of doing “what she is good at,” taking care of her family, Peg can no longer take care of Gunner – or perhaps she is just tired of “taking care.” Gunner regrets the things he said to Jack when Jack preferred baking with Peg to baseball with him, things like, “I was afraid to be seen with the goddamn kid.” And Jack wants out of his failed marriage and to be released from any further parenting responsibilities for Tim.
All of this foment comes into sharp and explosive focus when Gunner discloses his own plan to deal with his decline into madness. Unable to draw on enough mulligans to undo the damaged past, Gunner decides to follow the paths of confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation.
The cast pulls out all of the rhetorical punches to make Graham’s script accessible. Each is able to convince the audience he or she speaks from experience (ethos); each is capable of delivering an emotional appeal (pathos); each argues successfully for her or his plan of action (logos). Michael Learned’s Peg knows what it means to sacrifice individuality for corporate/family success. Peter Strauss’s Gunner appeals to his wife and son to accept his decision to “tie up loose ends” and take his own life for the welfare of his survivors. And Ian Lithgow’s Jack accepts the logic of his father’s insistence he settle his divorce in twenty-four hours (only to discover Gunner’s hidden purpose later). This gifted cast delivers on every level and, with generosity to one another and to the audience, creates believable and convincing characters who share joy and sorrow with genuine tears.
With the tide serving as a trope (extended metaphor) for all of life’s vicissitudes, Bruce Graham’s brilliant script invites the audience to explore its only emotional matrix and further explore all the ways we humans gift one another and are gifted; all the ways we grace others and allow ourselves to be graced by them; the need we mortals have to forgive one another and sometimes have the courage to ask for forgiveness.
Gunner ultimately does not want to lose control of his life and it is the tide which teaches him about death: “one thing about dying, you can do whatever you want.” Finally, Peg is able to let Gunner do what he has to do to maintain his dignity and rescue what’s left of his family. And, forgiven and blessed by his father, Jack is able to accept himself, all his faults, his apparent failures as a husband and father, and toss a flat stone casually into the Bay and hear it – for the first time – skip more than twice, matching Gunner’s five-skip record. The old has passed away and everything has become fresh and new.
“The Outgoing Tide” surges with the kind of passion needed in theatre and is a must-see before it closes on December 16, 2012.
THE OUTGOING TIDE
Presented by the Delaware Theatre Company (Bud Martin, Executive Director). By Bruce Graham. Directed by Bud Martin. Set design by Dirk Durossette, costume design by Wade Laboissonnier, lighting design by James Leitner, and sound design by David O’Connor.
WITH: Michael Learned (Peg), Ian Lithgow (Jack), and Peter Strauss (Gunner).
THE OUTGOING TIDE plays a limited engagement through Sunday December 16, 2012. The performance schedule is Tuesday – Thursday at 7:00 PM; Friday at 8:00 PM; Saturday at 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM; and Sunday at 3:00 PM and 7:00 PM. Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Tickets are $60 ($42.00 for 59E59 Members). Tickets can be purchased in person at 58E59 Theaters Box Office, by calling Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or by visiting www.TicketCentral.com. For more information, visit www.59e59.org.
Permalink | Posted by David Roberts on Wednesday, November 28, 2012
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