Photo Credit: Mark Frohna
What to do about supposedly infirm 79-year-old Alexandra? Two of her adult children want to move her into a “facility” since she lives alone, hardly able to move, forgetting facts and has alienated those close to her. Oh, and now she’s threatening to blow up her Park Slope brownstone along with the entire city block.
Therein lies the premise of Eric Coble’s The Velocity of Autumn, a two-character family drama that raises the question: How to deal with aging parents who insist on staying put in their home until “death do them part?” In Alexandra’s case, she takes it literally—and she is more than willing to provide a helping hand. In this case, setting up her own “Molotov cocktail” mix of photographic developing fluid, ready to ignite if the police show up.
Enter estranged son, Chris, who actually climbs a tree to the second story and comes in through a window to negotiate a truce. Over the course of the next 80 minutes (no intermission), Chris and his mother argue, bicker, reminisce and try to outwit the other to get to their own endgame.
No spoilers here. The storyline is amiable enough, wandering about Steve Barne’s realistic set, much like family members desperately trying to figure out how to communicate and cut through the underlying tension and foreboding crisis. The real strength of this production lies in the two solid performances helmed under the well-paced direction of In Tandem Artistic Director Chris Flieller.
In a role perfectly suited for her many talents, veteran actor and playwright Angela Iannone walks that ever-fine line of fierce independence coupled with an underlying maternal instinct. She is tough without being showy; she is vulnerable without appearing weak, at least emotionally. She is fascinating to watch, as is her counterpart Steve Marzolf as her son Chris. Marzolf provides a gentle restraint to a son who’s been gone for so long yet is the one closest to his mother. The two actors have great chemistry as Chris tries to figure out his place in the world, and in particular, in this potentially explosive scenario.
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“I don’t know how to do it,” says Alexandra, to which Chris replies, “What?” “Getting old,” she admits. It’s a path we all face. And, much like the mother and son in Autumn, we try to figure it out as we go along.
Through March 17 at Tenth Street Theater, 628 N. 10th St. For tickets, visit intandemtheatre.org.
