By Manning Harris
fmanningh@gmail.com
It’s not often that Atlanta audiences get to see a world premiere that is also a first play; the playwright here is Katie Grant Shalin, on the Performing Arts faculty at Pebblebrook High School, and her play is “Swimming with Jellyfish.” It’s running in repertory at Essential Theatre’s 15th Annual Play Festival through Aug. 11 at Actor’s Express at the King Plow Arts Center. The other two plays are “Mysterious Connections” and “Stray Dogs”; check the website below for schedules.
In “Swimming with Jellyfish” we’re dealing with that increasingly fragile phenomenon called the American family, and a “loss of human connection,” as Michael Evenden’s program notes indicate.
Jim (James Baskin) and Lily (Ann Wilson) are a suburban Atlanta couple with two almost grown children poised to make them empty-nesters. The young people are sister and brother: Gillian (Audra Pagano) and Paul (Matt Busch).
There’s tension from the get-go between Jim and Lily (some cheating has occurred); and Paul and Gillian have a fair share of sibling friction, not unusual. Paul is an aspiring punk-brass musician; his father thinks this is an absurd waste of his son’s college education, not to mention Jim’s money.
Gillian is preparing to leave for college, but mom Lily seems more excited than her daughter, and busies herself with packing clothes and dispensing advice. Jim and Lily, by the way, have been in couples’ therapy for some time.
Remember the film “American Beauty”? Even though Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening’s house looked immaculate and squeaky-clean and très stylish in suburbia, there was palpable tension from the first frame of the movie. In a very scaled down way, there’s some of that dissatisfaction and fractiousness evident here.
On the other hand, there is also light-heartedness and wackiness—perhaps most evident in a well-written scene when Lily is grimly determined to take the family Christmas card picture—in July, just to be sure everybody’s present. We human beings are endlessly complex; so are our relationships, and playwright Shalin will surprise you just when you think you’ve got everyone pegged.
And she’s helped greatly by having four good actors speak her lines. Ann Wilson and James Baskin easily demonstrate the angst of a couple in trouble: decent people with with flaws they’re trying to work through. I’m always fascinated by sibling relationships, and Matt Busch and Audra Pagano do not disappoint as they portray young people on the cusp of adulthood.
Founding Artistic Director Peter Hardy has been spearheading Essential Theatre’s admirable goal of presenting Southeastern and world premieres, usually by Georgia playwrights, and this summer is no exception. I also hear good things about “Stray Dogs” and “Mysterious Connections.” Check out their website for further details.
For more about the festival, visit essentialtheatre.com.
No play directs itself. “Swimming with Jellyfish” is deftly directed by Atlanta actor/director Bill Murphey. Apologies for omitting mention of Mr. Murphey’s fine contribution in the review.