David Auburn's proof was not written as a star vehicle, but don't tell that to Mary-Louise Parker, who takes the role of Catherine and turns it into a showcase for her many exceptional acting talents. The play, which raises several interesting questions about genius and madness, allows Ms. Parker to explore the quirkiness of this younger daughter to a mathematical genius who slipped into mental illness at the same age that she's currently celebrating as a birthday. In Ms. Parker's hands, the audience bonds with Catherine and her quirky ways, as she expertly balances the endearing with the potentially heartbreaking.
Catherine has been caring for her father for nine years. She has remained with him in her childhood home to ensure the brilliant mathematician from the University of Chicago, who has been struck by a mental illness, does not have to be institutionalized. She prepares for his funeral on her 25th birthday, the year that her father began to show symptoms of his disease. She has already shown an aptitude for theoretical mathematics, and her encounters with her father's ghost, as well as her interactions with her dissimilar older sister, Claire, and one of his gifted students, Hal, show that Catherine may also be in line to inherit his withering illness. The play has several ingenious twists and turns, although it also has an ending a bit too simple considering the depth of what has transpired before.
Director Daniel Sullivan has paced this show with ease, and an underlying urgency that aids greatly in bringing across Catherine's plight. All is obviously not well with Catherine from the outset. Ms. Parker has developed an odd tone-of-voice for her charge, and layers quirks like petticoats onto her troubled character. Her halting ways and abruptness are ambiguous enough to either show a young woman who has spent a large chunk of her life devoted to care giving, or expose deeper maladies. She carries the play, and there is no one with which we could feel more secure in the task.
Her supporting cast follows her lead very well. As her father, Robert, a role usually played by Larry Bryggman, Ron Parady is gentle and witty. He drifts through scenes and adds interesting commentary, and his heartbreaking moment with Ms. Parker in the second act is played with strength. As potential love interest Hal, a professor of Math at the University of Chicago charged with going through Robert's papers in search of a hint of the former genius, Ben Shenkman plays against nerdy and discovers a three-dimensional man beneath the scholar. Finally, as Catherine's business-minded sister, Claire, Johanna Day brings across her character's ironic tone quite naturally, and interacts well with those around her.
John Lee Beatty's unit set, the run-down back porch of this Chicago house surrounded by apartment houses, is amazingly appointed and lives as much as the characters who live and battle in its broken-down chairs. Pat Collins expressive lighting captures the cold chill of winter, and the surprise warmth of fall that appears in the second act. Jeff Goldstein's costume design adds to the depth of the characters.
proof may be the best straight play running on Broadway this season. It's mix of an intelligent script, a cast that listens to each other, and a lead that does just that make it the obvious choice for a wonderful night at the theatre.
Production Details:
Proof by David Auburn
Manhattan Theatre Club
Walter Kerr Theatre, New York City
(800) 432-7250
www.proofonbroadway.com