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Recommended
Tom Williams
Reviewed: November 3, 2006
Solid
production of Proof awaits
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The Actor’s Workshop Theatre has mounted
a solid and enjoyable production of David Auburn’s 2001 Pulitzer Prize
and Tony Award (for Best Play) play, Proof.
It is a family drama that deals with letting go of a loved one plus the
fear of inheriting mental illness from a parent. When your family
dynamic centers on your genius mathematics professor, who happens to be
your father, and you also have tremendous analytical talent, you worry
about becoming a mad as he is. Catherine (Leah Wagner) has been
duty-bound to live and care for her father, Robert (Brian Parry) as she
has puts her own life on hold in the process.
The story opens as Robert has just died and Hal (Jason Daniels) is the
math professor and former student of Robert’s who is studying Robert’s
voluminous writing in search of more insights into math theory. He and
Catherine struggle in and out of a relationship as they try to
establish enough trust to make it work. When the controlling sister
Claire (Jacqueline Grandt) returns from NYC, she insists that Catherine
move to New York to live with her and her fiancé implying that
Catherine can’t function alone.
Proof plays
out as an introduction to the world of madness as Brian Parry brilliantly paints a portrait
of a man going from being an eccentric genius to a fully insane
excessive-compulsive. We see his loving and nurturing side as he
enjoys having his youngest daughter caring for him. His death finds
Catherine struggling with her fear that she could be also cursed with
genius and madness. Her suitor, Hal and her dominating sister, Claire
struggle for control of Catherine. When Hal discovers a new math proof
and realizes that Catherine is the author, the stakes get higher as the
battle of wills intensifies.
Leah Wagner and
Jason Daniels slowly develop romantic sparks while Brian Parry’s Robert
deftly defines madness. This
is a nicely presented production that delivers Auburn’s intricate drama
in an effective understated tone that packs a wallop. Proof is worth
seeing.
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Lawrence Bommer
Reviewed: Nov. 5, 2006
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When a brilliant but
unstable University of Chicago mathematician dies, his daughter
Catherine must face her fear of a possible connection between genius
and madness. The puzzle in David Auburn's 2001 Pulitzer winner is how
the titular proof, a labor of love meant to disguise mental illness,
can also be a mathematical breakthrough. Gregory Gerhard's staging
creates sympathy for Catherine as she makes various choices--between
staying in Chicago or moving to New York, for example.
Leah Wagner's . . .
delivers the wrenching self-effacement behind Catherine's unsung
brilliance. Brian Parry gives
authority to the failing professor, Jason Daniels is salt-of-the-earth
sincere as Catherine's geeky admirer, and Jacqueline Grandt sharply
etches Catherine's rich but ordinary sister.
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