NY Review: 'Evolution'

Everyone is familiar with that quintessential depiction of evolution: a sequence of images beginning with simple aquatic organisms and ending with mammals on dry land. But what if it were reversed? It seems counterintuitive, even unnatural, but that's what happened with whales. Whale evolution was largely a mystery until the 1970s, when discoveries from the fossil records showed stages of their transition back to the sea.

Patricia Buckley's solo show "Evolution," crisply directed by Michele Chivu, uses this idea as a starting point to explore our commonly accepted ideas about progress and change. Moving between the scientific realm and the personal one, the absorbing, evocative production explores our warped need for "improvement" in our development, not only over evolutionary time but also in the span of a life.

The catalyst for this discussion is Minnie, a woman suffering from a mysterious illness with symptoms that include an irresistible pull toward the water. Confined to her house or a hospital room, she is watched over by her garrulous mother, who determinedly tries to protect her with a smorgasbord of medications meant to keep her from "regressing." Also driving Minnie forward is her sister, Pammy, a successful paleontologist and the author of the amusingly titled tract on whale evolution "Who's Your Momma?: The Search for the True Cetacean Ancestor." When they were children, Pammy looked to her older sister for a spirit of self-confidence and adventure; now Pammy's own confidence is shaken by this new Minnie, and her fear propels her efforts to find her sister's old self.

Buckley adeptly cycles through portrayals of each of these women, creating three distinct and nuanced performances that are hilarious and haunting. Each character has her own past experiences with loss and change. Although Buckley only hints at these personal stories in their monologues and in voiceovers, leaving the bulk of them untold, the family's interactions with Minnie speak volumes. Her illness, seemingly the stuff of hokey science fiction, becomes a window into our desire for improvement, even at the cost of losing ourselves. "Survival of the fittest is so predictable," Minnie says, urging her family and herself to accept alternate paths of evolution.

The backbone of Jim Findlay's stunning set is a large curiosity cabinet filled with animal bones, coffee cups, scale models, and water bottles. Although it serves the practical purpose of storing Buckley's props—everything seems to have a use during the course of the play—it also perfectly underscores the atmosphere of "Evolution." In Renaissance Europe, these "cabinets of wonder" allowed elements of science, religion, and history to mingle and take on new meanings: A narwhal's tusk could be recast as a unicorn's horn. Buckley taps into that same feeling of ambiguity and wonder, suggesting that once our traditional understandings and boundaries are broken, the possibilities that lie before us are endless.

Presented by Absolute Uncertainty in association with Interart Theatre at 59E59 Theaters, 59 E. 59th St., NY. May 2–20. Tue.–Thu., 7:30 p.m.; Fri., 8:30 p.m.; Sat., 2:30 and 8:30 p.m.; Sun., 3:30 p.m. (212) 279-4200 or www.ticketcentral.com.