stage matters / By William Kowinski

Jake’s Women - Lively Production, Problematic Play

(Feb. 1, 2007)  There’s a particular interest in a writer seeing a play about a writer who is too much the observer and not enough the participant in his own life, especially when one is among those reviewers who began as a participant in theatre - as a playwright, actor, director and even a song composer, and whose role now is as journalist and judge.

Well, when you get a role, play it.

Theresa Ireland as older Molly, Kim Hodell as Julie, Derby McLaughlin as younger Molly. Photo courtesy NCRT.

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In Neil Simon’s play Jake’s Women, a writer in his 50s imagines scenes with the women in his life as the fate of his marriage in crisis is decided. The current production at the North Coast Rep features fine performances. On opening night, a slow start with shaky (presumably New York) accents got a burst of energy and definition from Suza Lambert Bowser as the psychiatrist with the heart of a chorus girl. Young Derby McLaughlin, who played Jake’s daughter Molly at 12 years old, provided not only another hit of vitality but of reality: She was winsome and wonderful, inhabiting her part completely.

Christen Condry Whisenhunt also created a credible and funny character (Sheila, Jake’s current girlfriend during his separation) with economy and comic grace. Theresa Ireland as Molly at 21, Shelley Stewart as Jake’s sister, Karen, and Jolene Hayes as Maggie, Jake’s wife at the start of the play, all had their shining moments.

Kim Hodel had the plum part of Julie, Jake’s perfect first wife, who he fell in love with when she was 21 and he was 24, and who died at 35. She played it with the moral beauty and physical radiance that forces us to wonder where the line is between Jake idealizing his dead wife and remembering her accurately - was she really this wonderful? Hodel is convincing as both fantasy and tragically lost reality, in a memorable performance.

Michael Thomas as Jake had the longest and most difficult role, as he was required to hold the stage and hold the play together for the entire evening. Some of the most taxing scenes come late in the second act, when Jake’s frenzy accelerates and then must be transformed into the resolution of acceptance and vulnerability. He did yeoman’s work, keeping the audience involved, and laughing.

After 30 years and almost that many plays, Neil Simon knew how to generate laughter and tug at the heartstrings by the time this play was first produced in 1992. There are lots of laughs, some provocative remarks, and scenes that play like crazy. A dead wife gets to meet her daughter at 12 and 21 - how can you fail with a scene like that? (In this production, it doesn’t fail.)

Simon’s laudable efforts to go beyond his usual stage presentation with imaginary encounters often succeed individually — he plays with how much control Jake actually has over what he imagines, and over the characters in his fantasies. But even given all these audience-pleasing and thought-provoking elements, this play doesn’t quite hold together.

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