Lois Smith is an 87 year old actress who always seems to be working. In recent seasons I’ve seen her in Jordan Harrison’s Marjorie Prime and Annie Baker’s John, both excellent plays. (Marjorie Prime was also made into a movie last year.) In Peace For Mary Frances, she plays a widow who is hooked up to an oxygen tank nearing the end of her days. Presumably the peace that Mary Frances wants is death because the family members and assorted caregivers here are more than slightly annoying. The peace that the audience wants is for this overlong drama to finally end.
This play was written by Lily Thorne and it’s her professional playwriting debut. There are so many issues thrown in to the theatrical blender that the situation is beyond even remotely believable. Squabbling sisters, one with a drug addiction, the other struggling to make ends meet. That’s ok I guess but since her daughter is a television star, the poor storyline is bizarre. Our starlet has a sister with a newborn that gets carried around the stage for more scenes than is advisable or even reasonably probable. Caregivers offer advice while trying to pretend this family isn’t totally crackers. After the terrible (and also boring) Good For Otto, The New Group’s season – with the exception of Jerry Springer, the Musical – is hugely disappointing.
The pace of direction here by Lila Neugebauer (The Wolves) is glacial. The scenic design by Dane Laffrey is too large for the stage and results in clumsy movement, notably in the bedroom. The actors try hard but there are too many plot contrivances and far too many scenes to make this drama effective in any way. We do get to see Lois Smith talk to her dead husband near the end of Peace For Mary Frances in yet another revelation from the family’s seemingly unendless catalog of mini-dramas. Ms. Smith’s character received extra morphine to help her ease her struggles toward the end. The audience, however, just remained numb, physically squirming in their seats while hoping that this really bad production would end.
www.theaterreviewsfrommyseat/goodforotto