Nancy Allsop, Lisa Dillon, Bo Poraj, Alex Waldmann, Jake Fairbrother, Alexandra Gilbreath, Robert Lindsay & Sam Marks. Photo By Ellie KurttzOriginally commissioned by the Manhattan Theatre Club, actress/writer Alexis Zegerman has created eight cleanly defined characters and enough familial tension to be worthy of an Alan Ayckbourn play. But despite Lindsay’s growling patriarch and occasional spirited pairings where intimacy and hostility are played-out on Lizzie Clachan’s façade set of sectioned rooms, the whole never really takes-off and the piece ends somewhat lamely with a clichéd gathering of children at their father’s feet as he expresses his love and pride in each, despite their obvious failings. “I made mistakes. But life itself is a mistake: one evolutionary genetic mutation after another. I’m so proud of you”.
In between, we’re treated to the resilient combativeness of his daughter Dot’s fractious relationship with her plagiarising former-scientist husband Nate (Lisa Dillon and Bo Poraj) fretting over their daughter Lily (Nancy Allsop) whose fits as a result of the rare genetic condition Periodic Fever Syndrome give the play its title. Also in the house are prodigal twin Anthony (Sam Marks) a crypto currency investor making a rare visit from California and his gay twin brother Thomas (Alex Waldmann) together with his partner Philip (Jake Fairbrother) who explore commitment issues and a divergence in their desire to have children in Roxana Silbert’s latest effort as Artistic Director.
Despite best intentions all round, oftentimes it felt as though the author had a tick box of character types to include and not enough fully realised events with which to occupy them.
One of the more perverse and unexpected impacts of the pandemic lockdown, has been the reduction in workforce within many sections of the arts, including those departments which support the back office functions for institutions like the Royal Opera House. The hard pushed and over-stretched Press Office team managed to miscommunicate dates for the opening of La Traviata to this particular reviewer, so rather than waste my journey into Covent Garden this past Saturday, I accepted their offer of a house seat to review the ballet triple bill aimed at highlighting the talents of some of the newer bright lights of the dance fraternity. As is usual with such contrived amalgamations, it was an enjoyable but fairly mixed offering, where humanity flirted with death in a three-sectioned, mildly post-apocalyptic pas de deux.