"Grace" — A Review by Elyse Trevers
I don’t like knowing the end of a play before it begins. I don’t want to know that Steve (played by Paul Rudd) will brandish a gun at his wife and shoot Sam, half of whose face is covered by a plastic mask ( portrayed by Michael Shannon) Obviously Craig Wright, writer of the new play, Grace doesn’t agree with me.
Perhaps he felt that the audience would be intrigued to learn what drives the spiritual ever-smiling Steve to go berserk. At the opening of Grace (not a character’s name but rather the grace of God,) Steve has just gotten the call from an unseen backer, financially committing to millions of dollars, so he can build a chain of gospel-themed hotels called CrossRoads Inn. Steve and his wife Sara (Kate Arrington) take the time to thank God for their good fortune. The project has brought the couple from Minnesota to Florida where, despite the bugs and heat and loneliness for Sara, the two believe they are destined to begin their new life.
Rudd gives a fine portrayal. Grinning broadly, he’s almost smarmy, a bit of a charlatan, yet there’s no reason to doubt his veracity. He’s pushy, overzealous, and intrusive and rudely questions strangers about their beliefs. He’s also a bit of a bully with his gentle, pious wife occasionally barking at her and citing Biblical verses instructing a wife to follow her husband.
Even better is Michael Shannon, as a NASA scientist disfigured from a car accident that killed his fiancee. Tense and brooding, he is uncertain about the presence of a God. The plastic mask he wears covers his disfigurement- partially explaining his alienation from the world and a divine being, as does his scientific occupation. Shannon is angry and bitter, yet somehow even able to get one of the few laughs from the play, in a too-familiar frustrating conversation on the phone with tech support.
Rounding out the cast is the octogenarian Ed Asner as Karl, the exterminator who has lost his family in Germany during the war. Asner is matter-of-fact and avuncular, even when lecturing. However, his German accent is strained and sometimes unrecognizable.
Unfortunately, some of Wright’s dialoguing is somewhat numbing, especially Sam’s speech about his work and Sara’s description of Bible camp. The setting of both apartments overlap and converge, and characters use the same space to represent neighboring apartments. One scene is played backwards and then forwards again in an intriguing bit of theatricality.
The opening scene is replayed at the end of the play. Now all the questions are answered and the relationships and motives clear. As both Sam and Karl are finding spiritual comfort, Steve loses everything. It was clear all along. The playwright didn't have to show it over again; we only had to see it once.
