Every family has problems. Few are burdened with the overload of dysfunction suffered by four generations of women in Jar the Floor.
The play, which opened Friday at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, often is described as a comedic drama. It might be a good idea to savor those rapid-fire moments of comedy, which occur mostly in the first half, because when the drama takes over, it grabs hold and doesn't let go.
Set in the remarkably accurate Mike Nichols-designed mid-1990s suburban Illinois home of rising academic MayDee (Shannon Lamb), the story concerns a birthday party planned for the 90th birthday of MayDee's recently widowed grandmother, sweet, funny and forgetful MaDear (CeCilia Antoinette). Attendees include MayDee's ribald mother (and MaDear's daughter) Lola (Joy Lynn Jacobs) and MayDee's 20-something daughter, Vennie (Maya Jackson), who arrives from Florida with her friend and fellow alternative-lifestyler Raisa (Erikka Walsh).
Despite some half-hearted attempts to maintain a festive atmosphere, matters deteriorate with alarming speed as years of festering grudges, nasty secrets, grievances, misunderstandings, mistakes, lies and conflicts quickly surface. The arguments, some of them R-rated, begin abruptly and waste no time in turning vicious; wordy weapons are hurled at a rat-a-tat pace, cutting so deeply that seemingly no apology can bring about forgiveness.
Playwright Cheryl L. West piles on the vexations encountered by these women; even when the plate of woes is full, she serves up yet another pain-riddled injustice. The enormity of wrongs presented can be numbing at times, which turns the play into a bit of a slog. Not that the cast, guided by the sure hand of director Gilbert McCauley (in his eighth production at the Rep), lets that get in the way of their competence at portraying characters who, despite being mostly unlikable in very human ways, manage to evoke empathy and compassion as they express their divergent points of view -- whether attacking others or defending themselves.
It doesn't hurt that there's a Martha and the Vandellas song included in the music.
Jar the Floor continues at Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Sixth and Main streets, Little Rock, through April 16. More information is available by calling (501) 378-0405.
Metro on 04/01/2017