Review: Justin Tanner plunges into family trauma in his solo show 'My Son the Playwright' at Rogue Machine
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Playwright Justin Tanner, author of “Pot Mom,” “Little Theatre” and “Voice Lessons,” is one of the signal voices of L.A.’s wild and free intimate theater scene.He has not only written what might be his most personal play (there’s plenty of competition for that spot), but he’s also performing the work — solo.
“My Son the Playwright,” now receiving its world premiere in a Rogue Machine production at the Matrix Theatre’s cozy Henry Murray Stage, is divided into two acts.The first presents the father’s side of the tumultuous relationship; the second offers the son’s point of view.
(An intermission, in which the son’s apartment is created out of the father’s, separates the two.) Tanner plunges into these ostentatiously autobiographical roles, heedlessly, hectically and without a psychiatric net.He not only imagines competing sides of a traumatic family story but also inhabits the aggrieved minds of both Douglas, the out-of-touch father, and James, his out-of-control playwright son.
He knows these characters well — perhaps too well for the sake of the play.The play, directed by Lisa James, one of Tanner’s trusted collaborators, is remarkably fair to both characters without at all mitigating their flamboyant shortcomings.
No one is condemned.No one is exculpated.
The French proverb “to understand all is to forgive all” might be overstating matters.But “My Son the Playwright” demonstrates the value of a writing practice that finds empathy for even the most impossible of characters.It takes courage to write such a play and maybe a touch of madness to perform it in such an intimate space.
There’s no place for Tanner to hide upstairs at the attic-like Henry Murray Stage.Digging into tough subjects such as addiction and domestic abuse, he taps into excruciating feelings that aren’t easy to corral once they’re released.
Rage, anguish, ...