Ross Zentner
Tracy Michelle Arnold (left) and Georgina McKee (right) in Forward Theater Company's The Other Place
Forward Theater delivers a brave and bruising production of Sharr White's The Other Place (through Feb. 1 at Overture Center's Playhouse). It's a complicated portrait of a woman descending into disease -- one that irrevocably alters her perceptions of the present, her memories of the past and her sense of self.
When the lights come up, Juliana (Tracy Michelle Arnold) is sitting calmly on an almost bare stage. She is trying to piece together her recollections leading up to "an episode" -- the first frightening indication that there is something wrong with her brain. A tumor perhaps? Or something else?
From that moment Juliana leads the audience on a dizzying and frequently untrustworthy tour of her career as a leading medical researcher who is now shilling for a drug development company at conventions; her strained relationship with her husband, who may or may not be cheating on her; her daughter, who may be ready to reconcile after a long absence, or may be a figment of her imagination; and above all, her struggle to remain in control.
The success of the production lies squarely on Arnold, who deftly both narrates and illustrates her struggle in harrowing scenes that flow from one to another at a brisk pace. There is much to dislike about Juliana's character -- her temper, her vindictive accusations and her predilection to, in her words, "see something young and beautiful and want to just scratch it and scratch it until none of it is left." But to Arnold's credit, she embraces these character traits, allowing the sharp edges to contrast starkly with a heartbreaking vulnerability she reveals in later scenes.
Georgina McKee also shines, both as Juliana's daughter Laurel in strained, prickly and surprisingly funny phone conversations and as the current resident of Juliana's family’s vacation home on Cape Cod. The compassion she shows Juliana at the ailing woman's most desperate point feels both genuine and heroic.
The cast is aided by scenic designer Keith Pitts's stunning and evocative environment, composed of hexagonal platforms that mirror the symbols for chemical compounds that populate Juliana's medical research. An enormous, gray wooden panel at the back of the stage is used as a screen for projections until it is rolled open to reveal scenes from the past in full color.
And director Brenda DeVita does a beautiful job steadily building the intensity of the play over 75 minutes, while finding short bursts of humor to punctuate difficult scenes. She also tempers moments in the script that feel manipulative, preventing the story from sinking into melodrama. Though the final scene abruptly ties things up a bit too neatly, the last moments of the play are simply breathtaking.
It is a difficult journey, but going to The Other Place is definitely worth the trip.
