Jonathan Demme books a bad ‘Family Week’

Film director fails to fire a dud drama by Beth Henley

BY MICHAEL SOMMERS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

OFF BROADWAY REVIEW

Curious programming: A prime off-Broadway company, MCC Theater usually premieres new works. Neil LaBute's "reasons to be pretty" and Margaret Edson's Pulitzer-minted "Wit" are among its many hits and occasional failures. Yet MCC's latest show is "Family Week," an old play by Beth Henley that folded after a brief New York run back in 2000.

Opening Tuesday at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, the thoroughly doleful "Family Week" offers no clue why MCC felt an urge to revive the play or why filmmaker Jonathan Demme ("The Silence of the Lambs") chose to make his debut as a stage director with it.

Unlike the playwright's characteristic prize-winners "Crimes of the Heart" and "The Miss Firecracker Contest," this disconsolate drama offers no regional Southern flavor or wacky storyline. Apparently Henley was out to create a totally charmless work and by golly, she succeeds.

Set in a rehab center in the desert, "Family Week" centers on late 30-ish Claire (Rosemarie DeWitt), whose life has fallen apart due to what is later revealed as a loved one's shocking death. Troublesome sister (Quincy Tyler Bernstine), chilly mother (Kathleen Chalfant) and self-absorbed daughter (Sami Gayle) reluctantly join the terribly withdrawn Claire for a week of supportive therapy sessions.

So the women argue and vent and scarcely face their issues, let alone solve them, and that's pretty much it as far as the story goes. Everybody is more or less miserable.

Perhaps an abstract approach might perk up Henley's dull doings and reveal it as a sick comedy. Flatly staged by Demme, the emotionally and visually bleak 75-minute production seems pointless and drags on forever. With the nasty exception of Gayle's screeching portrayal of the teenager (poor dear), the actors give reticent performances. An unexpected misfire from several distinguished artists, "Family Week" is a must-not-see event to cross off your theatergoing list.

"Family Week" continues through May 23 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, 121 Christopher St., New York. Call (212) 279-4200 or visit www.mcctheater.org.