Presented by and at New York Theatre Workshop (in collaboration with American Repertory Theatre), 79 E. Fourth St., NYC, May 16-June 17.
In the opening line of Adam Rapp's "Nocturne," Dallas Roberts as the son tells us that at age 17, he accidentally killed his younger sister. The first act of this new play is simply a narration of that event and its immediate aftermath for the family. However, in Act Two, which deals with the son's guilt and regeneration, one of the most poignant studies of these emotions ever dramatized is put on the American stage. Roberts' performance is a tour de force in one of the longest and most demanding roles in recent memory.
Act One depicts the traumatic reaction by the parents and how it destroyed their marriage. By intermission, the son flees the Midwest for the Lower East Side. In the second act, we hear about the son's new life as a writer, his attempt to have a relationship with a girl friend, and, finally, his return home to face his father 15 years later.
Although the play is almost entirely narrated by Roberts, the equally moving Will LeBow as his father has a handful of lines in both acts in the play's only dramatized scenes. Nicole Pasquale as the sister, Candice Brown as the mother, and Marin Ireland as the girl friend are used as mannequins in tableaux vivants that depict the scenes described.
Marcus Stern's brilliant staging gives this monologue three dimensions. Along with Christine Jones often breathtaking settings, we see a reenactment of the accident, the family home in mourning, the son's Manhattan walkup, and the father's last Joliet residence. John Ambrosone bathes the sets in colors that emotionally reflect the mood of Rapp's beautifully poetic language. During the final scene of reconciliation between father and son, Grieg's haunting piano sonata, "Nocturne," is heard in the sound design by Stern and David Remedios.