Review by Ron Fassler . . .
For more than forty years, playwright Donald Margulies has been delighting audiences with thought-provoking plays on a range of subjects and issues. The recipient of the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Dinner with Friends, his early works include Found a Peanut (1982), in which a group of children aged five to fourteen—played by adult actors—become embroiled over the findings of a dying bird and a bag of money in the backyard of a Brooklyn tenement, and Sight Unseen (1992), a drama that forces two former lovers to a major confrontation over a painting (he the artist, she the subject), set against a backdrop of anti-Semitism and the legacy of the Holocaust. His latest play, Lunar Eclipse, had its world premiere in 2023 at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts and now, save for one of its two leading actors, is being given an entirely new production by Second Stage at the Pershing Square Signature Center on West 42nd Street. At seventy years old, Margulies is contemplating life from a new vantage point; one that doesn’t put him in a nostalgic mode, but pondering what lies ahead for any of us when the road is narrowing and when quality of life is starting to become compromised.
George and Em are a long-married couple who have been living on a working farm that George inherited from his father and grandfather before him. A gruff man, he’s the product of a work ethic that has given him the strength to persevere over a life filled with ups and downs and disappointments. Like his wife, we are meant to admire his tenacity even if his taciturn nature can be galling. When the lights first come up, we find him seated on a plastic folding chair in a field, weeping into the darkness. Joined by Em, he hides his tears and once she settles in, the pair get on with the business of watching a lunar eclipse (stargazing is a ritual with them). This provides the setup for a glimpse into their marriage, their hopes and dreams, and what lies in the future. This is not a drama dependent on plot; it’s a character study and herein lies one of its drawbacks: George is active and Em is passive. This is not an equal match due to their marriage being one of inequality. He is the leader, and she is the follower. He took the path of school and bettering himself while she took the one of least resistance—wifely duties and raising their two adopted children. They love each other, sure, but something along the way has turned their lives into one of drudgery and routine. And now that George is starting to exhibit signs of forgetfulness and insecurity, staying connected for the couple is more important than perhaps it’s ever been.
If this seems mundane by description, the action is bolstered by Margulies’s distinctive ability to write natural dialogue which, staged with sensitivity by director Kate Whoriskey, keeps things moving nicely. There are no earth-shaking revelations or forced “aha!” moments for the couple. They know each other too well for that. What makes it interesting is its tautness over a ninety-minute playing time that offers a connection with these two good folks in a meaningful way that transcends their daily, ordinary existences.
Held over (for good reason) from the play’s premiere in Massachusetts two years ago is Reed Birney, one of America’s finest stage actors. His knack for creating believable men with wounded or haunted miens is unmatched. Here he delves into George with an intense laser focus, a portrait of a man in full. Lisa Emery, well cast as Em, has the bigger challenge with a character less intelligent and forced to be reactive for nearly the entire length of the play. But she imbues the role with strength and somehow manages to resist being upstaged or confined into a box by the otherwise forceful presence of her husband.
The technical aspects of the production are excellent. Walt Spanger’s outdoor setting feels right and the lighting by Amith Chandrashaker is first rate, aided by the video projections of S. Katy Tucker, which feature moving clouds and trees that rustle in the wind with a variety of subtle changes. Jennifer Moeller’s two costumes fit the couple to a T and the expert sound design by Sinan Refik Zafar includes everything from realistic cicadas to animal howls.
George and Em, possibly short for Emily, could easily be construed as Midwest versions of the young couple from Our Town had Emily not died in childbirth and the couple remained married for fifty years. Like Wilder’s brilliant play about life and death, Margulies is taking on similar themes of hope and despair, echoing that play’s cosmic take on the universe through this George’s telescope and dreams of seeing a Red Lantern moon during this evening’s eclipse. That he’s aware he may never get another chance, as embodied in Reed Birney’s beautiful performance, is what makes Lunar Eclipse a worthwhile journey from darkness to light.
Lunar Eclipse is playing now through June 22 at the Pershing Squire Signature Center, 480 W 42nd Street, NYC. For ticket information, please visit: https://2st.com/shows/lunareclipse
Photos by Joan Marcus.