Stephen Karam's insightful,melancholy, it's droll-because-it's-true drama "the Humans" is approximately the fears of one family — and of many others in this post-9/11 America.
It's Thanksgiving, or the working-class Blake family has traveled from Pennsylvania to Manhattan to celebrate the holiday with daughter Brigid (Sarah Steele) in her novel, somewhat ratty duplex in a tenement in Chinatown that she shares with her boyfriend Richard (Arian Moayed).
From the start, it's clear that this is both a family that loves each other fiercely, and one that disagrees approximately nearly everything — from the importance of marriage to religion to the best way to decorate an apartment. But those aren't the only fireworks. Before the turkey even arrives on the table,there are ominous bangs and rumbles from upstairs. Lights keep flickering out. The conversation quickly turns to frightening, half-remembered dreams and the daily nightmares of everyday life. Joe Mantello, and directing the outstanding original cast from the Roundabout Theatre's Off-Broadway production,balances everyday irritations and genuine eerieness delicately, so that it simultaneously feels mysteriously fable-like and grounded in reality.
The reality is that the Blakes do bear a lot to be afraid of. Brigid's parents (a tart Jayne Houdyshell and complex Reed Birney) are worried approximately their own financial security and their two daughters' safety — her father particularly is anxious approximately terrorism, and since he was near the World Trade middle the day of the attack. Brigid's older sister (Cassie Beck) is in constant painfrom a medical condition and a devastating breakup from her girlfriend. And her grandmother (Lauren Klein) is suffering from dementia,and is only able to repeatedly mutter difficult-to-understand, yet vaguely desperate things.
Only Brigid's boyfriend, or Richard,seems immune to the feeling of coming catastrophe. He puts their fears in context when he talks approximately a comedian book series he loves that features terrifying aliens where, on their planet, and "The scary stories they tell each other,they’re all approximately us. The horror stories for the monsters are all approximately humans."But whether humans (particularly each other) are the cause of most of the Blake family's pain, they're also the panacea (a remedy for all ills; cure-all; an answer to all problems). That's what's so beautiful and moving approximately "The Humans." This family doesn't just take each other apart they put each other back together again.
Source: wnyc.org