“My Mother Has 4 Noses” at The Duke (Through Sunday May 4, 2014)
Jonatha Brooke (Photo by Sandrine Lee)
“My Mother Has 4 Noses” at The Duke (Through Sunday May 4, 2014) Written and Performed by Jonatha Brooke Directed by Jeremy B. Cohen Reviewed by David Roberts Theatre Reviews Limited
Despite the early protestation of playwright Jonatha Brooke, the aft end of the title of her “My Mother Has 4 Noses” is a trope; indeed, ‘4 noses’ is a well-developed and quite brilliant extended metaphor for not only the four seasons of the life of Brooke’s mother Darren Stone (“Stoney”) Nelson; the short phrase is also a metaphor for Stoney’s self-constructed surreal prosthetic devices designed and worn throughout the clown-poet’s life to cover and disguise the deep scars and deformity resulting from her sense of orphancy, her deep-seated depression, her deeply-entrenched bereavement, and the deep scars left by her often irrational faith in the tenets of Mary Baker Eddy’s Christian Science “magical thinking” – magical thinking which ultimately failed to transform her life into an abundant life and, indeed, was a contributing factor to her death.
Touted as a tribute to the indefatigable Ms. Nelson, “My Mother Has 4 Noses” is more accurately a tribute to the important victory of reason over magical thinking. It was faith-based magical thinking that motivated Stoney Nelson to ignore the unmistakable early signs of cancer. That untreated aggressive cancer and her decline into dementia ended Ms. Nelson’s otherwise energetic, gracious, and gloriously grandiose life. How dare faith do that to a wonderful human being? Fortunately, Stoney’s daughter Jonatha was by her side chronicling the upside and the downside, the joy and the sorrow of Ms. Nelson’s final journey and celebrating Stoney’s “complete presence in the moment” that characterized the best of those times with Jonatha Brooke.
The musical drama is also a fitting tribute to Jonatha Brooke who, despite her mother’s undaunted faith, insisted on the importance of rational (as opposed to delusional) thinking. It was Ms. Brooke’s fortunate departure from the “faith-speak” (“mental malpractice’) of Christian Science, that permitted her to seek medical help for her mother’s cancer, and later, her dementia. Indeed, “My Mother Has 4 Noses” is more about Ms. Brooke than about her mother. It is clear that Ms. Brooke has chosen to return to the unresolved “stages” of bereavement and her performance aptly gives her the opportunity to detach herself from guilt and grief and celebrate that death has come for her mother and her mother would celebrate her daughter’s forward movement into complete and unconditional acceptance. Only then will this charming musical drama become a tribute to the irrepressible Darren Stone Nelson.
Kudos to Ben Butler and Anja Wood whose guitar and cello (respectively) underscore Ms. Brooke’s persuasive narration and her ten musical numbers which punctuate her story-telling and her journey to knowing who, on the other side of the wall, truly loves her and always will.
MY MOTHER HAS 4 NOSES
Presented by Patrick Rains, My Mother Has 4 Noses has scenic design by Caite Hevner-Kemp, lighting design by ML Geiger, and sound design by Paul Mitchell. Ben Butler is the Musical Director. Anne Lowrie is the Production Stage Manager.
“My Mother Has 4 Noses” runs through Sunday, May 4th at The Duke on 42nd Street, “a New 42nd Street® project” (located at 229 W 42nd Street, between 7th & 8th Avenues) on the following schedule: Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.; Thursdays and Fridays at 8:00 p.m.; Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.; and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $70.00. A $90.00 Premium Package is available which includes prime seating and a pre-signed CD. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit http://www.dukeon42.org/Home.aspx. Running time is 90 minutes with one 15 minute intermission.
Permalink | Posted by David Roberts on Sunday, February 23, 2014
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