Spoilers ahoy!
Tiny confession. Although having heard of it for years, up until now I had neither read nor seen The Homecoming by the late, great Harold Pinter. Hence this was an intense treat, to see a play of this caliber for the first time, done by a theatre company on this level...I feel buzzed in the aftermath.
In many ways, the premise (in terms of plot or situation, anyway) is simple, in terms of the play's period, the 1960s, almost cliche. Teddy (Taylor Lee Marr), a philosophy professor in some American university, returns home to his North London working class home after six years. This home consists of nothing but four men--Max (Troy Dunn) a cantankerous retired butcher now walking with a cane, his other two sons Lenny (Adam Langsam) who gives off a strange air--one that we eventually realize is "Pimp"--and Joey (Carey Cannata), the youngest in so many ways with hopes of becoming a boxer, and finally Sam (David E. Frank) Max's younger brother who works as a chauffeur. Teddy arrives without warning in the middle of the night, bringing with him a wife, Ruth (Angela Beyer), about whom no one is his family has any clue at all.
She seems to be the first woman in this house, since the death of Jessie, Max's wife and the boys' mother.
A lot of things become instantly obvious. First, this house simmers with tension, unresolved and possibly unresolvable. Every word it seems is a weapon, or a shield. Secrets are everywhere, their presence increasingly loud, their specific nature remaining elusive.
Second, what is true of one home seems utterly true (albeit in a totally different flavor) of the "home" which is Teddy and Ruth's marriage. We sense instantly here is something afoot, which grows more obvious by the breath. For several moments in the play I wondered if Ruth had been hired to pretend to be Teddy's wife. While I dismissed that idea pretty quickly, by now the idea seems more likely--on Ruth was in effect "hired" when she and Teddy did get married six years ago. Here is not a happy marriage.
Whose homecoming is this? Teddy's obviously. But we learn Ruth used to live near here, so might it not be hers as well? The men of this house begin becoming more obviously themselves, a cascade effect from the introduction of Ruth. So, one could say they are also coming home, home to themselves. Little truths spill out. How Lenny hates being called Leonard, evidently because his mother called him that. Hints of abuse by Max are sprinkled throughout. People keep talking about an old friend of Max, and Sam ends up spewing a BIG secret about him. Joey almost turns infantile by the end.
Throughout, words rarely reveal anything. They hint, and tease, deceive and accuse, but hardly anything of import is ever stated clearly. Everything, every sentence and phrase and word, is an act of combat, or a negotiation. Life as warfare. Or, as high stakes poker.
And this cast, under the direction of Frederique Michel, makes every glance or smile or silence work exactly the same way. The experience proves eerie, fascinating, a little bit disgusting, often quite funny, and it crawls under one's skin. I should mention I know about half the cast reasonably well, yet looking at them on stage during this performance I did not see the men and woman I know. I saw Ruth and Max, Sam and Lenny, Joey and Teddy.
Bravo.
The Homecoming plays Fridays and Saturdays 8:00pm, Sundays at 4:00pm through June 15, 2025 at City Garage, Bergamot Station, T1 Space, 2525 Michigan Ave Santa Monica, CA 90404
