"I have never seen such a house full of wackos," one
of the five figures sputters as the end approaches in
Sam Shepard's new play Heartless at Pershing
Square Signature Center, and many theatergoers will be
tempted to agree. Worse yet, after close to two hours of
watching these folks' various manifestations, their
plights have not only ceased to be involving, but have
become more than mildly irritating.
As the work unfolds, it's a challenge to decide which of
the nut cases residing in a California (nut)house is the
nuttiest. Sally (Julianne Nicholson) is endlessly
cranky, in part, because as a child she received a heart
transplant from a murdered girl, and seems unsure why
she was saved from death.
Her sister, Lucy (Jenny Bacon) is disgruntled from
having to deal with their demanding mother, Mable (Lois
Smith), who has lost the use of her hands, and is
wheelchair-ridden. And there's also mysterious nurse
Elizabeth (Betty Gilpin), a mute who emits the
occasional ear-splitting scream.
Into their midst Sally has invited Roscoe (Gary Cole), a
65-year-old literature teacher who has abandoned his
wife and grown children and has no other place to go -
and who stirs the ladies like a cat among the pigeons.
Among the turns of events cluttering act two are the
hay-roll Roscoe and Elizabeth share, and a
late-in-the-play tantrum he throws that further riles
everyone up.
Meanwhile, although Sally ends the first act singing a
ditty that contains the lyric "I want to stay alive" -
and Elizabeth later indulges herself in a similar
refrain - vital life clearly isn't what Shepard sees for
his benighted menagerie.
Indeed, as Shepard's two-act drama unfolds on Eugene
Lee's sparely-furnished black set with its upstage raked
playing area and two palm trees, it repeatedly makes the
tired point that Hollywood destroys souls. It's a belief
underscored many times in the play, but none more so
than when Mable commands Elizabeth to push her to the
high perch from which she enjoys "gazing into the
abyss."
Unfortunately, because the work's intentions are
otherwise so obscure, there's no way to judge the
effectiveness of Daniel Aukin's direction or the
ensemble's acting. It can be said, though, that in
playing people ripe for being committed, the five actors
all bring commendable commitment to the seemingly
plotless and pointless Heartless.
