On & Off Broadway

'The Humans'

Review by Elyse Trevers

Posted

Welcome to the Blake Family Thanksgiving, being held downtown in the “duplex” apartment of Bridget (Sarah Steele) and her, boyfriend, Rich (Arian Moayed). Bridget’s parents, grim Erik (Reed Birney) and bleeding-heart Deidre (Jayne Houdyshel) travel from Scranton bringing grandmother Momo, who’s in advanced stages of dementia. Older sister Amy (Cassie Beck) has made the trip in from Philly.

On the surface, the family is loving and caring, filled with holiday traditions. They appear to be a happy, almost TV-like family… with quirks. All join in to sing an Irish song in three-part harmony. They pass around a mint candy pig and each one declares what he or she is grateful for and then hits the pig with a small hammer. Everyone eats a piece afterwards.

The apartment, affordable to the young couple because of its many flaws, immediately irks Erik, who is anxious to contact the landlord. In addition to the clanging sounds of the trash compactor, the noisy elderly Chinese lady upstairs, and no ventilation, the apartment boasts “an interior courtyard” which is a euphemism for an “alley filled with cigarette butts.” The play includes several New York jokes, including poor cell service and expensive prices. Deidre uses every opportunity to mention the importance of marriage and attending church.


It all seems a bit too sweet until the secrets are revealed while Momo rants loudly and often incomprehensibly as if to create dissonant background music. The cast is excellent and even Birney, whose character has created his own downfall, draws our sympathy. Beck is the most tragic, yet she provides much black humor as she jokes about her situation. She is a lesbian lawyer whose partner has left her and whose company has taken her off partner track. Stricken with colitis, she is doomed to a serious operation that will force her to use a colostomy bag.

The play begins strong with lots of humor, despite Erik’s constant dour pronouncements. When Rich says that he’s found a second chance at life, Erik notes, “Doing life twice is only worse than doing it once.” The play begins its descent into darkness, in a way resembling some of the nightmares that keep Erik from sleeping at night. By the end, the pain becomes almost too much for the family to share. Playwright Stephen Karam has created familiar characters, ones who touch our hearts as we feel some of their pain. Many in the audience may identify with the relationships and the issues.

Midway through the play, Rich recalls a movie in which aliens tell each other horror stores; their horror stories feature the monsters who scare them: the humans. Some of them can be found and viewed right here on Broadway.