{"id":74346,"date":"2018-10-18T00:26:20","date_gmt":"2018-10-18T04:26:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/stockard-channing-and-glenn-close-make-magic-of-maternal-strife-off-broadway-review\/"},"modified":"2018-10-18T00:26:20","modified_gmt":"2018-10-18T04:26:20","slug":"stockard-channing-and-glenn-close-make-magic-of-maternal-strife-off-broadway-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/stockard-channing-and-glenn-close-make-magic-of-maternal-strife-off-broadway-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Stockard Channing and Glenn Close Make Magic of Maternal Strife Off-Broadway: REVIEW"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stockard Channing and Glenn Close Make Magic of Maternal Strife Off-Broadway: REVIEW<\/b><\/p>\n

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\u2018Apologia\u2019 at Roundabout Theatre Company<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A shift in perspective makes a world of difference. Where and how we choose to look can radically alter how we make sense of ourselves and everything else. That\u2019s the sweeping scope of Alexi Kaye Campbell\u2019s intimate drama <\/span>Apologia<\/span><\/i>, titled after the memoir of its central character, an art historian played with cunning grace by Stockard Channing. Downtown, Jane Anderson performs a different pivot in her new play <\/span>Mother of the Maid<\/span><\/i>, turning our historical attention to Joan of Arc\u2019s family life, and particularly her mom, played with ramrod forbearance by Glenn Close. <\/span><\/p>\n

That each of these plays provide such venerable stars with plum roles into which to sink their teeth is a delightful bonus, no doubt (and likely why the plays have arrived in New York in the first place). But it\u2019s in aligning our point of view with that of sharp, extraordinary women<\/a>, wise in more than just years, that the plays succeed in disrupting how we look at history and our own place in the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2018Apologia\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Early on in <\/span>Apologia<\/span><\/i>, a Roundabout Theatre Company production that opened off-Broadway October 16, Channing\u2019s character reins in her patience to explain how Giotto revolutionized Western religion. He helped spread faith to the masses by allowing viewers to see themselves reflected in his grittier paintings of Christian idols. The scholar\u2019s son (Hugh Dancy) has brought an American girlfriend<\/a> (Talene Monahon) home to the English countryside to meet mom, a proud and somewhat cynical U.S. expat herself. <\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2018Apologia\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Her defense of the Gothic artist, in response to an inane question by a new girlfriend<\/a>, distills the insightful thrust of Campbell\u2019s elegant and deceptively simple play. Everyone has their own concept of value \u2014 be it based on money and fame, or on faith, intellect, or artistic achievement. It\u2019s different for every character on stage as it is for each member of the audience. Our individual conceptions of value reflexively dictate how we measure our own \u2014 drama is born in the discrepancies. <\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2018Mother of the Maid\u2019 at The Public Theater<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Anderson\u2019s view of 15th-century France focuses on the Arc family\u2019s more earthly values, rather than the divine crusade of its \u2018Maid\u2019, Joan. Primarily known for her screen work (most recently\u00a0<\/span>The<\/span><\/i> Wife<\/span><\/i>, also starring Close), Anderson renders an epic figure on an intimate canvas in this off-Broadway production that opened tonight at the Public Theater. Before her visions of Saint Catherine led her into battle against the English, we find this Joan (Grace Van Patten) picking burrs out of wool with her Ma (Close), in a dialect that more closely resembles the rural American West than the North of France.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2018Mother of the Maid\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Joan has been no stranger to New York stages recently; a revival of George Bernard Shaw\u2019s <\/span>Saint Joan <\/span><\/i>went up this spring, and a disastrous musical from David Byrne also bowed at the Public last year. By assuming the perspective of Joan\u2019s mother and grounding the story in more mundane realities, Anderson makes Joan\u2019s journey seem all the more remarkable, though the most sensational moments take place off stage. It is perhaps easier to sympathize with a mother\u2019s pride and agony witnessing her child\u2019s rise and fall than it is put ourselves in Joan\u2019s shoes. Not surprisingly, Close has no trouble galvanizing the story around her character\u2019s perspective with a striking performance. Five hundred years on, there\u2019s little new to discover about Joan\u2019s story but to see it as a human one.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Follow Naveen Kumar on Twitter: @Mr_NaveenKumar
<\/a><\/em>(photos: joan marcus)<\/p>\n

The post Stockard Channing and Glenn Close Make Magic of Maternal Strife Off-Broadway: REVIEW<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad Gay News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Stockard Channing and Glenn Close Make Magic of Maternal Strife Off-Broadway: REVIEW<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n