Robert Frost wrote this poem in 1923. “Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.”
Chad Beckim’s play of the same name similarly addresses decline. In this case, Eden is a small town in Maine. Grief makes its presence felt in a number of ways. Most tragically, this family will experience its own taste of America’s opioid epidemic. Knowing someone who’s family has experienced this first hand should have made this material resonate emotionally for me.
Clay is off to college and his long-term girlfriend Jess is not. His mother (Mary Bacon) takes her in while he is away at school. Jess is having difficulties at home with her new stepfather. We hear about a lurid “underwear twirling” incident. She manages to get a job in a chicken processing plant and things go south from there. They chat face to face on their computers to stay connected. You can sense their worlds are slipping apart.
Clay has a tough as nails sister named Tonya who has a neglectful baby Daddy. Jess’ brother Jamie is an EMT in training. He is demonstrating father skills and has joint custody of his daughter. Both of their unseen partners are described as assholes of one sort or another. Will the stated opposites Tonya and Jamie (who are clearly not opposites) attract?
The play is written in short episodic scenes which felt clinical. Obviously with this subject matter, there is going to be some serious tension. Jokes are placed bizarrely throughout. The audience laughs as intended but any sort of dramatic momentum is derailed. Unseen girlfriend Amanda is “as useless as a white crayon.” Funny, yes. Inconsequential to the plot and throws off the mood? Most definitely.
The acting is strongest by the the two supporting siblings played by Peter Mark Kendall and Adrienne Rose Bengtsson. There is heft and depth to their characters. They are people stuck with bad relationships and regrettable decisions. However, the complex individuals underneath the messy situations register loud and clear. We feel compassion and empathy towards them. The performances are confident with strongly drawn portraits of living, breathing survivors. Every scene containing at least one of these two characters is the strongest parts of the play.
The more challenging acting assignments are reserved for the underwritten central roles of Jess and Clay played by Talene Monahon and Michael Richardson. Their relationship is very basic. I was reminded of the old after school television specials. A very topical drama leading to a lesson to be learned. In this case, there will be healing before going back to playing Uno.
I suppose the play may be more concerned about the collateral damage caused in families forced to confront this epidemic. The two young people should probably be a little less bland to sell the all-consuming tension they create. Perhaps their blandness is the point being made here. This adversity could happen to anyone.
Nothing Gold Can Stay was efficiently directed by Shelley Butler. Scenes and locations were clear within a one room set. The story is a sad one and much sadder than “dropping an ice cream cone.” Chad Beckim’s play warns of the small town dangers for a misguided, disheartened and disillusioned young American generation. “This place is like a spider’s web. You stay long enough, you’ll get stuck.”
Nothing Gold Can Stay is presented by Partial Comfort Productions at A.R.T. Theatres and runs though October 26, 2019.