It's still a bit too early to be sure, but I'm almost positive that I have seen what will be this years best play, this years award winner for best actress in a play, and the next stage role that Meryl Streep will play on film. In any event, Sharr White's The Other Place is a stirring drama that is both well written and thought provoking. It also packs an emotional punch sharper than a Mike Tyson Uppercut.
Laurie Metcalf plays Juliana Smithton, a Neurologist who has spent her life working on a cure for Alzheimer's. We discover from the onset that Juliana's own life is coming unhinged. Her marriage is on the rocks, her daughter has run off with an older man, and her own health is in series decline. Scene by scene, a mystery unfolds as fact and fiction blur together, past and present collide, and eventually the truth boils to the surface.
This is a very funny play. The humor is in the truth of each situation, and many of the laughs are from an awkward place. The Other Place is also the kind of play that made every one in the theater sob - loudly. The type of sobbing that is messy, personal, and usually reserved for funerals.
This production was, in my opinion, perfect. The play itself is a wonderful piece of Theater and will no doubt be performed in regional theaters across the country in the coming years. If all you know of Laurie Metcalf is her comedic work, your mind will be blown by what you see before you on that stage. While Daniel Stern originated the role of her husband, I saw his replacement Bill Pullman, who is also a wonderful stage actor in his own right.
The set design by Eugene Lee and lighting design by Edward Pierce work in perfect concert with each other to give the play a depth and make each scene flow seamlessly. Joe Mantello has done an unusually fabulous job with his direction of giving each scene, character, and the play itself the same.
The other place is not just a play, it is an experience. This particular play effected me personally in a way that most plays do not. If you're like me, you know have an older relative, or know somebody who has suffered from Alzheimer's and/or dementia. At the very least, you've seen The Notebook. These are very real issues, and very real emotions. To see them portrayed on stage, to see somebodies life be torn apart by this disease, and to see the very specific hell that is living inside of one woman's mind is both breath taking and terrifying.
The Other Place played the final performance in it's extended limited run on March 3, 2013 after 34 previews and 64 regular performances.
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