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Regional Reviews: St. Louis Colder Than Here Also see Richard's review of Murder for Two
But it seems an impossible task at first, even for the Grim Reaper. In Laura Wade's Colder Than Here, one traditional English family seems to become a microcosm for the rocky dissolution of England itself, under the startlingly sensitive direction of Albion Theatre founder Robert Ashton. And aside from the stuffy dad, and the meek and kindly mom who tries to hold everything together (in spite of her own stage-four cancer), and two wildly different grown daughters, it's mainly all the mechanics of a series of "end of life" procedures that give structure to the plot of this domestic drama (with plenty of dry comedy). That, and the way the stress of it all breaks down their haughty English reserve. But afterwards, in spite of everything you've just read here, the ending is truly wonderful. The play first hit the boards at the Soho Theatre in London twenty years ago, and later the same year moved to the Lucille Lortel Theatre in New York. Here at the Kranzberg Arts Center, Susan Wylie is excellent as Myra, whose cancer has spread to her bones. Her daughters are awkwardly helping by searching for an eco-friendly gravesite. And this quickly brings us in tune with the infinite: as they glumly visit all the scrubby, remote, damp patches of cemetery, off the beaten track. That all puts the end in stark perspective, along with a large, biodegradable cardboard coffin that arrives on stage after the first hour. The father (played by the always remarkable David Wassilak) grows so inured to the presence of the casket on the floor that eventually he comically steps right into it himself, unawares. This is during an exasperating phone call about having a very new high-tech household boiler repaired. Because they all live in a world where no one understands how to achieve any kind of warmth anymore, not even the experts. And that's just the first ninety minutes. But there's something subtly, tantalizingly anguishing about the failed family dynamic during most of it all. Livy Potthoff is wonderfully layered as the punk'd out 27-year-old daughter Jenna, who must gradually throw off her youthful rebelliousness. And Anna Langdon (as Jenna's sister Harriet) accomplishes a fascinating role-reversal with Ms. Potthoff: at first sensible and caring, then increasingly agitated and othered by it all. Every one of a million changes of mood on stage is done with a kind of deliberate psychological pointillism, and every hinge and bearing of it all swivels and revolves with perfect precision. It's hard to explain the tremendous sense of relief we get, even as Myra is dying, from the way her family fumblingly rises to the occasion. Mr. Wassilak strips his soul bare in a way that reminds me of the unfolding and falling leaves of a corpse flower, revealing the unexpected core of his being within. And there's plenty of rocky going before that, in an increasingly painful scene in which Harriet (Ms. Langdon) tries to clean out the spice rack, which turns into a grim conflict with her mother. In the early going, everyone has that vaguely cruel British style of narrating one another's personal mindset or failings back to them, dodging the listening process, and each other, in needlessly contemptuous ways. But, as Myra and the family go determinedly through the stages of dying, all that selfishness finally gives way to something more deeply humane. Thank goodness. Or, thank the grim reaper. Colder Than Here, staged by Albion Theatre, runs through June 29, 2025, at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 N. Grand Avenue, St. Louis MO. For tickets and information, please visit www.albiontheatrestl.org. Cast: Production Staff: |
