In The Wake

Lisa Kron

Lisa Kron was a founding member of the political theatre group “The Five Lesbian Brothers,” and was well received on Broadway in 2006 with her play, WELL. Now at the Public Theatre she has turned in IN THE WAKE, an elaborate conversation about contemporary politics––jump starting from the Bush/Gore election and ending somewhere shortly after the Bush/Kerry election. Between those two bench marks of recent history was a very turbulent time and Kron’s group of people, residing in an East Village apartment of New York City, have a lot to say about it. The playwright’s opinion is definitely presented, but she is willing to argue both sides of any issue. Still, her disillusionment with American politics and the American Democratic system are more than underlined––it is shouted with arms flailing about in the character of Ellen, played believably by Marin Ireland and in the quieter and perhaps more effective voice of Judy, played with a well crafted characterization by Deirdre O’Connell.

The first act, which lasted an hour and a half to intermission, went along nicely enough in a well paced, old school, well made play fashion of yesteryear. Ellen is the talkative leading player who can’t help but rage on about the injustice of the political system, but appreciates the founding fathers’ creation of a government that allowed for change. Her live in boyfriend, Danny (in an endearing Rob Reiner style performance by Michael Chernus) is amiable and is the calming force to Ellen’s manic energy. He is the peace maker between his apartment and the neighboring family members of his lesbian sister and her partner. Moreover, Ellen engages in her own lesbian relationship with Amy (Jenny Bacon) who claims to feel too much while Ellen thinks too much. The all understanding Danny is waiting to see if Ellen’s lesbian fling will simply play itself out and she will choose him over Amy. But this story line is insignificant to Kron’s main motivation for the play, which is to have a heated conversation about the turbulence of the past decade in politics. She wants us to see that the same privileged few who made the Constitution are represented now by similar people who are still at the top holding the power and that the poor and disenfranchised are still at the bottom. It’s not that there haven’t been changes or re-shifting or even improvements here and there, but as Judy explains, no matter how may Band-Aids you put on it, that same fundamental structure remains.

I would like to say that IN THE WAKE is the rarest of things: a lesbian play. However, this play does not really explore lesbian politics as The Five Lesbian Brothers had done in the past, but more refreshingly just supplies characters that happen to be lesbians, making them visible upon the stage. Their mere existence in the commercial theatre is in itself a political statement, though they do no more than engage in perfectly natural everyday behavior. There is an unspoken statement that the lesbian experience is a facet of the American experience, but this idea is not even driven home. Instead we are stuck with the second act, which dramatically shifts in pace and structure, spiraling out of control into a mess of the collapse of Ellen’s odd little family. Perhaps the shorter scenes in multiple locations, interrupted by Ellen talking to the audience to expound upon the metaphor that she can’t see in her blind spot, are all supposed to mirror the chaos of the past decade. Ellen’s world is falling apart as the outside world is falling apart. Even if that was the intent, it made for a disjointed play, with no resolution of the main characters. Kron doesn’t seem to want to tell a story at all, but just let Ellen funnel her anxieties. For all that, Kron has come up with some terrific lines––stunning gems that underline her point of view succinctly and which illicit laughs of recognition. One does think, “I haven’t thought about it quite that way before...that’s interesting.”

All of this would be more effective if the perfectly good, modern story was emphasized over the debating. Kron wouldn’t have to loose her main points or her brilliant one-liners to do it either. This is a play with important ideas worth the discussion, but it is such a downer in the second act, that it is difficult to not check the watch in hopes for a clue to know just when the misery of Ellen will all come crashing to an end.