BY MICHAEL SOMMERS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

OFF BROADWAY REVIEW

“The Great God Pan” is a very subtle, sorrowful new drama by Amy Herzog, author of the admirable “4000 Miles.”  Quite unlike that touching character study in its style and theme, “The Great God Pan” is an unsettling consideration of the tricks that memory can play – especially the more you think about it.

A nice New Yorker, Jamie (Jeremy Strong) meets again a long-lost boyhood friend Frank (Keith Nobbs), who relates how he was sexually abused by his dad some 20 years earlier.

He wonders whether Jamie was molested as well. The dumbfounded Jamie does not recall any such incidents but then begins to reflect upon those mostly-forgotten times.

Hoping to jog his memory, Jamie visits his lonely mom (Becky Ann Baker) and fond dad (Peter Friedman) in New Jersey and later spends time with his old babysitter (Joyce Van Patten) whose recall is failing. Jamie’s longtime girlfriend Paige (Sarah Goldberg) and the anorexic teen (Erin Wilhelmi) she counsels also figure significantly into the drama, which gracefully weaves considerable thought into 80 minutes.

Composed as brief scenes, the play offers a muted conclusion yet packs a lingering effect. You do not leave Playwrights Horizons exclaiming “Wow.”  It’s more like “Hmm….” Deeper than it seems to be as the story plays out, “The Great God Pan” definitely is a drama to discuss over drinks afterwards.

Carolyn Cantor, the director, delivers a pitch-perfect world premiere for Playwrights Horizons. Taking a cue from the title – a reference to a half-remembered poem about a lusty woodland god – designer Mark Wendland sets the scenes abstractly against dappled greenery that provides a sense of venturing ever deeper into the woods. The low levels of Japhy Weideman’s lighting design further the metaphor for traveling back into forgotten thickets of memory. It is a beautiful visual realization of a sensitive play.

Designer Kaye Voyce dresses Jeremy Strong in buttoned-down greys as his pensive Jamie soberly tries to recall his distant past and how it may be affecting his present-day issues. Often crossing his arms or keeping his hands in his pockets, Strong’s Jamie interestingly appears to be a defensive fellow who keeps his distance from those he loves.

The other excellent actors adeptly portray their characters, but the typical warmth of Joyce Van Patten’s performance as the fond, fading babysitter is especially lovely to see.

The subtle, indirect nature of “The Great God Pan” may not appeal much to theatergoers who prefer thunderous emotions, but Herzog’s writing is smart in its somewhat circular structure and attractive in the easy intimacy of its dialogue. This drama certainly is another example of skillful playwriting from a gifted author who translates a troubling experience into an insightful contemplation of how the past may – or may not – shadow an individual’s present. 

“The Great God Pan” continues through Jan. 13 at Playwrights Horizons, 416 W. 42nd St., New York. Call (212) 279-4200 or visit www.ticketcentral.com.