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 TM
NY Theater: "Home" is a gem of a play about class in England
Story is played out by inhabitants of a mental asylum
By Lucy Komisar
In this gem of a play, thing are not what they seem, and
what appears normal shares defining characteristics with what appears odd and
eccentric. It shows how dissembling can be what middle and working class
appearances communicate to onlookers.
 British playwright David Storey's work, directed with subtlety and sympathy by
Scott Alan Evans, opens with Jack (Simon Jones) and Harry (Larry Keith), two
middle-aged British men in spiffy vested suits, sitting on a bench before a
fastidiously-manicured hedge. Harry has carefully placed his fine leather gloves
atop a sporty Fedora on the white wrought-iron table; Jack carries an elegantly
turned walking stick. They chat about the army, sports, family, and "Little
England," all quite normally, except that their phrases are fragments, often
monosyllables, and don't make up a continuing conversation. It's as if they were
remembering snippets of past lives.
 The men get up to take a stroll, and soon their places are taken by two
working-class women, both rather unfashionable in dress and demeanor. Marjorie
(Cynthia Harris) wears a cardigan and glassy-eyed expression and carries a red
umbrella, and Kathleen (Cynthia Darlow) has odd too-tight shoes and a marked
Cockney accent. Their conversation is gloomy; they view the world as hostile.
When the men reappear, one of the women addresses them as "Lordship" and
"professor."
Chatting amongst themselves, the four speak in bits of sentences and interrupt
each other. Marjorie orders the others about. Jack is polished and urbane, but
exhibits no emotion; Harry conveys deep sadness. Kathleen giggles at references
that she sees as sexual, especially the word "little." The men exude optimism,
the women see the dark side. But they are the realists. Marjorie, with the
umbrella, expects rain, and later we hear thunder.
 The interaction among the four and their remarks about shared experiences slowly
makes one aware that their worlds are closer than we had imagined: they live in
a mental institution.
Playwright Storey was born 1933 in Yorkshire, the third son of a coal miner who
spent 40 years at the coalface so that he could give his sons higher education.
A sense of class is very much part of Storey's sensibility. "Home," which opened
on Broadway in 1970 when Storey was 37, appears to be a subtle exploration of
England's class divisions within the constraints of a place that could be an
allegory for "Little England."
The acting by The Actors Company Theatre members is superb. Simon is gentle and
intelligent as Jack, offering a hint of the man he once was. Larry Keith is
wistfully sad as Harry, harkening back to a life he only half recalls. Cynthia
Harris is blustery as Marjorie in a way that only half hides her insecurity, and
Cynthia Darlow brings out the raucousness of Kathleen that is a cover for
confusion and suffering. A fifth character, Albert (Ron McClary), who seems
utterly disconnected from the world, arrives to carry off the wrought-iron
furniture piece by piece, a bizarre action which the others take in stride.
Their lack of condemnation or anger at someone a lot more mentally unstable than
they are shows a sympathy that the larger crueler society might emulate.
"Home." Written by David Storey. Directed by Scott Alan Evans. Set by David
Toser. Costumes by Mimi Lien. Starring Cynthia Darlow, Cynthia Harris, Simon
Jones, Larry Keith, Ron McClary,
The Actors Company at Beckett Theatre, 410 West 42 St. Mon, Wed-Fri 7:30pm; Sat
2pm, 8pm; Sun 3pm. Through Dec. 23, 2006. $20. 212-279-4200.
http://www.tactnyc.org/.
by Stephen Kucken.
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