{"id":7954,"date":"2019-05-16T07:51:31","date_gmt":"2019-05-16T11:51:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=7954"},"modified":"2019-06-02T16:03:33","modified_gmt":"2019-06-02T20:03:33","slug":"skylight-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=7954","title":{"rendered":"Skylight"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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McCarter Theatre Center<\/a> closes its 2018-2019 season with David Hare\u2019s Tony-award winning play Skylight<\/em>. Directed by McCarter artistic director Emily Mann, the play opened May 11 and runs through June 2. I\u2019d seen the Bill Nighy \u2013 Carey Mulligan version, in which the acting was great, but I actually think I got more out of this current one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it premiered in 1995, Skylight<\/em> was a timely exploration of a\nclash of values between wealthy restaurateur Tom Sergeant (in this production,\nplayed by Greg Wood) and his former lover, now a teacher in a bottom-of-the-barrel\nschool, Kyra (Mahira Kakkar). Now in 2019, gulfs between people in terms of income,\nattitudes, and basic values appear even more unbridgeable. Can anyone still\nbelieve love conquers all?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The play takes place in Kyra\u2019s very\ndownmarket apartment (exquisitely tatty, by way of Beowulf Borritt), deprived\nof most luxuries, including heat. Unexpectedly, she\u2019s visited by Tom\u2019s 18-year-old\nson Edward (Zane Pais), who comes bearing dubious gifts (beer and rap music).\nHe wants to tell her how much he\u2019s missed her since she moved out of the family\nhome three years earlier. She decamped when Tom\u2019s wife discovered Kyra and\nTom\u2019s long-running affair. Edward feels abandoned by Kyra and by his mother,\nwho has subsequently died of cancer. His immediate problem, though, is with his\nfather, who in his unresolved guilt and grief makes his son\u2019s life miserable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edward leaves and Tom arrives. Tom\nand Kyra circle each other, the magnetic waves of their attraction so strong\nthey\u2019re practically visible. Yet, like magnets with matching poles aligned,\nthey repel each other with their words. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Witty and voluble, Tom can\u2019t accept\nthat Kyra lives the way she does, devoid of comforts, teaching in a school\nwhere a student spit on her, a dinner lady was mugged, and the head teacher\u2019s\ncat was baked in her oven. Kyra retreats to the high-ground arguments that\nshe\u2019s helping society, helping the most needy kids, even if only one. While Tom\nacknowledges, on the surface, the nobility of her effort, he can\u2019t stop his\nscorn for her choices from breaking through. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to live this way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, their attraction is too\npowerful, and Act One ends in a satisfying clinch. But are their differences really\nirreconcilable? Can they adjust, recalibrate, soften? That\u2019s Act Two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wood and Kakkar , with Mann\u2019s\ndirection, keep the dialog blazing. Wood is all over the stage, flopping in a\nchair, pouring a drink, never still an instant, until something makes him\nalight like a dragonfly, only to dart away again. Kakkar is the steady one, not\nas amusing, but just as passionate. (Also, she makes a spaghetti dinner\nonstage, in a kitchen about three feet by three.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For centuries, stories of\nimpossible love have been a theater staple. This compelling McCarter production\nlets us confront its contemporary face. A highly satisfying theater experience!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McCarter Theatre is easily reached\nfrom New York by car or train (New Jersey Transit to the Princeton Junction\nstation, then the shuttle into Princeton. The shuttle ends a short walk from\nthe theater and the university\u2019s new arts district, as well as two innovative\nnew restaurants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For tickets, call the box office at 609-258-2787 or visit the ticket office online<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo: T. Charles Erickson<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

McCarter Theatre Center closes its 2018-2019 season with David Hare\u2019s Tony-award winning play Skylight. Directed by McCarter artistic director Emily Mann, the play opened May 11 and runs through June 2. I\u2019d seen the Bill Nighy \u2013 Carey Mulligan version, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Skylight - Can anyone still believe love conquers all? David Hare's remarkable play is in some ways more apt now than when it premiered in 1995. At McCarter Theatre. ","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[269,366,104,147],"tags":[287,288],"class_list":["post-7954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-actor","category-drama","category-the-morgue","category-theater","tag-david-hare","tag-skylight"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vweisfeld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Skylight.jpg?fit=2400%2C1299&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NkiT-24i","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7954"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7957,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7954\/revisions\/7957"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}