David Rabe’s Visiting Edna is everything you expect from Steppenwolf Theatre: a work of depth and significance, actors rendering studied characters, and production values of the highest order.
Rabe’s writing also displays another Steppenwolf hallmark: plays that mine the power and drama in the ordinary language of daily life. Edna (Debra Monk is sensational) is an Iowa widow soldiering through a litany of ills – heart failure, colostomy, colitis, diabetes and cancer – all conspiring to come in for the kill. Her middle-aged son Andrew (Ian Barford gives what will surely be a definitive performance) visits to check in on her, and decides to see if better medical advice might improve her condition.
This may sound grim, or even boring. It is anything but. Though Edna babbles endlessly - as mothers may – her almost hypnotic patter is laced with incisive reflection and homespun wisdom, engaging her son (and the audience). She also begins settling accounts, handing off possessions and revealing scars from her own upbringing from which she sought to shield Andrew and his sister. Edna vividly relates the impact on her own childhood of the fraught circumstances of her older sisters’ teenage miscarriage and battle with tuberculosis.
Edna’s end of life scenario affords moments of reflection, recall, and bonding with Andrew. Edna, born in 1926 to a world devoid of social media - or psychotherapy, for that matter - regrets in hindsight the physical discipline she inflicted on Andrew, and worries over her own careless decision to bring Andrew, age four at the time, to watch a hotel fire at which guests jumped to their deaths. "It's just so different now, that's all," Edna says.
The play also hums with a magical realism, as the dying Edna is pulled between two polarities familiar to anyone who has tread the path of serious illness: a distracting television, and the illness itself. In Visiting Edna, Actor One (Sally Murphy in a beautifully crafted and inspired performance) plays a channel-flipping Television, breaking the wall to address the audience in her opening monologue. She even relates the playwright's reflections on whether to wear rabbit ears or a dish antenna.)
Tim Hopper as Actor Two, plays Edna’s cancer through most of the play. (Note to Hopper fans: this is one his best roles.) Hopper’s knowing, insidious cancer recounts Edna's ailments, and telsl the audience, "Yet, she is desperate to live." Cancer offers gloomy reminders to Edna ("It's a dark hole you're in.") and competes mightily with Murphy’s sprightly Television for attention. In fact, neither wins it. As Actor Three (in a stunning walk-on role), Michael Rabe is at once frightening and believable as an angel of death.
The stage itself is quite awesome: a sky tunnel right out of Magritte hovers above a split level living room. Stormy weather was so convincingly portrayed I was surprised the streets were dry when I left the theater. Kudos to David Zinn for set design, Marcus Doshi on lighting, Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen for music and sound design. Artistic director Anna Shapiro, famed for August: Osage County, oversaw the show and guides this season at Steppenwolf.
This wonderful production has just one drawback: the ending, which seems to drag, as Andrew addresses the audience in a lengthy, tearful soliloquy about Edna’s final moments.
That aside, Visiting Edna is as good as it gets on stage. It runs through November 6, 2016 at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre.
Chicago Opera Theater (COT), Chicago’s foremost producer of new and reimagined opera, closes its 50th Anniversary season presenting the final performances of…
Tim Rhoze, Artistic Director of Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre, has announced the company's 2024 season of four productions. The season will open with…
David Williamson, regarded as one of the top magicians in the world today, makes his Rhapsody Theater debut with Ridiculous! Known for his tours…
It’s often said that in the workplace you should refrain from talking about politics and religion; too personal, too easy…
BALLET 5:8 is a female - and minority-led ballet company resident at Harris Theatre in Millenium Park. Under the leadership…
When life’s chaos is full of impossible choices, how are we possibly meant to move forward? Brooklyn Laundry is about…
I would absolutely bomb out of jury selection cos I have a very definite bias: I’ve been a fan(atic) of…
You got trouble, my friends, if you’re going to put on Meredith Willson’s The Music Man. If you’re going to…
This year's Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater 65th-anniversary engagement at Chicago's historic Auditorium Theatre held particular importance as it marked…
For the final show of its 30th anniversary season, Trap Door Theatre—the little company that could—has selected a sure-fire hit…
Chicago’s National Landmark Auditorium Theatre (50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive) proudly announces its 2024-25 performance season presenting a vibrant mix of…
Chicago Writers' Bloc has announced the lineup of plays and musicals for its biennial festival of new plays, to be…
If you appreciate classical music and captivating stories about brilliant artists from the past, Hershey Felder’s one-man show, Monsieur Chopin:…
Jackalope Theatre Company continues its 16th season at Edgewater’s Berger Park, 6205 N. Sheridan Rd., with the announcement of the cast…
Born and raised in Mexico City, Dr. Ricardo Rosenkranz, MD, Chicago’s own Physician Magician, will celebrate the festive Cinco de Mayo holiday weekend by…
The Player (Lorenze Rush Jr) has just run into Rosencrantz and Guildenstern with his troupe of players. As he explains…
Those were my first words when I left the performance of COCK to David Zak, producer and resident wizard of…
If you’re a magic enthusiast, Joshua Jay’s captivating new show, Look Closer, is currently enchanting audiences at the Rhapsody Theater. But even…
Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name. Sometimes you want to be surrounded by people to experience the…
About Face Theatre announces casting for the Midwest Premiere production of Lavender Men by Roger Q. Mason, directed by Lucky Stiff, running May 9 -June 8,…
The Artistic Home Studio will present the 2024 edition of its CUT TO THE CHASE festival of new one act…
Hell in a Handbag Productions is pleased to continue its 22nd season with the world premiere of POOR PEOPLE! The Parody Musical, an…
Author Percival Everett is having his moment, and Exile in Bookville gave us a chance to meet him up close…
Physical Theater Festival Chicago is proud to announce the complete lineup for its 11th anniversary celebration, July 13 - 21. The Festival begins…
‘Jersey Boys’ is back in Chicago, bringing with it a little East Coast to the Third Coast. The hit Broadway…
After many years without seeing the movie or reading the story of Peter Pan, the moment I learned that Peter Pan:…
Lifeline Theatre and Artistic Director ILesa Duncan announce the casting for Chicagoan Nambi E. Kelley's "gutsy, powerful, and relentless" adaptation of Richard Wright's powerful introspection…
A.B.L.E.—Artists Breaking Limits & Expectations—a Chicago-based nonprofit that creates theatre and film for, with, and by individuals with Down syndrome…
When a play’s opening moment is mystifying and its closing moment is satisfying, the stuff in between must be doing…
The expansive, opulent home exudes an air of solid middle-class comfort, boasting a formal dining area, an upright piano, and…
Does your theatre company want to connect with Buzz Center Stage or would you like to reach out and say "hello"? Message us through facebook or shoot us an email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
*This disclaimer informs readers that the views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to Buzz Center Stage. Buzz Center Stage is a non-profit, volunteer-based platform that enables, and encourages, staff members to post their own honest thoughts on a particular production.