On a bright summer Sunday at noon, we enter the dark lobby of The Players Theatre for a much-anticipated offering in the Seventeenth Annual New York International Fringe Festival. Inside, two-time NY Innovative Theatre Award-winner Nat Cassidy is hard at work. My friend giggles, “The playwright taking tickets?” Nat, a disarmingly affable guy, confirms, “Keeps me humble!” Based on Cassidy’s new play, Old Familiar Faces, keeping him humble could prove challenging.

 

“Challenging” is also an apt description for the densely layered Old Familiar Faces – a cross-genre jigsaw puzzle of interweaving stories from different continents and across time. The first narrative is based on the true story of Mary and Charles Lamb, a brother and sister in Georgian-era England. Both suffered from mental illness but Mary was particularly mad, having murdered their mother in 1796. The siblings were devoted to one another as well as to Shakespeare’s canon. Together, they wrote Tales from Shakespeare - an interpretation of Shakespeare for children – and traveled in literary circles that included Mary Shelley, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Charles outlived Mary and in fact, the title of our play comes from a poem by Charles Lamb, about aging and perhaps – life without Mary. The concept of surviving life after love also applies to the second story - that of Lee and Oliver, contemporary American actors whose passion for Shakespeare blossoms into a delirious love affair. Some details – names, marital status and career trajectory - echo those of Lawrence Olivier and Vivian Leigh, adding another layer of overlap and association to Old Familiar Faces’ look at obsessive love.

 

The stories are oddly congruent - a brother and sister whose attachment is of a strength usually associated with romantic love - and lovers whose identities merge in a manner usually associated with siblings. Both stories feature mental instability. Both stories end badly – “badly” being open to interpretation in this upside-down world of madness and verse. And both stories are told non-linearly. Rather, the story of Mary and Charles is woven so deeply into dream and fearful fantasy, we often don’t know what’s real. And Lee and Oliver’s story is told how Oliver remembers it – out of order.

 

Most magically, Shakespeare forms the bridge between the stories – both thematically and structurally. The quotes function as songs in musicals – springing out of characters when their own words fail to express the depth or complexity of their feelings. Characters seduce, rant and wrestle in verse - allowing for seamless transitions - courtesy of masterful direction (also by Cassidy) - from one story to the other. This verse is so beautifully illuminated by Cassidy’s storytelling, knowledge of Shakespeare is not a pre-requisite for enjoying the show. But language is the real love object of this play. And the delight of Old Familiar Faces is the extent to which Cassidy’s own words resonate with poetry and meaning so much so, that he can move from Shakespeare’s words to his own without anyone but a Shakespeare scholar (or devoted theater artist) knowing where each begins and ends, much like the narratives themselves. In particular, the words exchanged by Lee and Oliver as they find closure are so poetic, so full of insight and understanding, they felt like the 38th play and drew tears from my formerly chirpy friend.

 

Because the use of “multiple interwoven narratives” has become the signature storytelling conceit of our times, I’ll forgo the long list of references - except for Stoppard’s Arcadia, which is too apt a nod to resist. And in terms of blending genres, that there’s a touch of horror in this love story is understandable, given Cassidy’s previous looks at zombies and serial killers. Old Familiar Faces also points to the differences between how we frame madness today as mood disorders for which we take pills, as opposed to previous eras when madness was almost a poetic visitation. And finally - Old Familiar Faces suggests that outdated ideas about gender still haunt contemporary life, despite the lack of period costume. Lee and Oliver’s relationship topples under the weight of Lee’s career success, even after she so easily embraced his higher status when they first met. This is beautifully illustrated when, as they fall apart, Lee and Oliver exchange verse from Henry IV, with Lee playing Hotspur and Oliver playing Kate.

 

The performances in Old Familiar Faces are exquisite. Tandy Cronyn plays Mary Lamb with intelligence and power, making her timidity and self-loathing all the more excruciating. Sam Tsoutsouvas embodies the furiously loving but beleaguered Charles with a command of language that makes even his crudest utterances seem upper crust. James Patrick Nelson, as Oliver, is heartbreakingly truthful in every moment from tender to tormented. I almost feel creepy being in the room for someone else’s most intimate moments - due also to Marianne Miller’s excellent work as Lee. Miller is an actor who can move from ingénue, for which she’s likely to often be cast, to powerhouse - reminiscent of a young Kathleen Turner. And both Miller and Nelson do “overlapping banter” as well as any Sorkin regular.

 

The complexity of Old Familiar Faces did leave some theater-goers frustrated and besieged by feelings of inadequacy – an interesting response for an audience to have, but understandable with so much brilliance on stage. The play might benefit from letting the audience in a little more, so they feel empowered by their ability to not just keep up, but also be one step ahead. But even without that tweak, Old Familiar Faces is a can’t-miss show in the 2013 FringeNYC season. As Lee says, when finally revealing her favorite Shakespeare line to Oliver, “There is a world elsewhere” (Coriolanus.) But for my money, I like the one here at The Player’s Theatre, where the play is most certainly the thing.

 

OLD FAMILIAR FACES – Written and Directed by Nat Cassidy.

 

WITH: Tandy Cronyn (Mary Lamb), Marianne Miller (Lee), James Patrick Nelson (Oliver) and Sam Tsoutsouvas (Charles Lamb). Stage Manager: Marl Brystowski, Assistant Director: John Moriarty, Lighting Design: Kia Rogers, Special Effects: Stephanie Cox-Williams, Costume Design: Izzy Fields.

 

FringeNYC: Old Familiar Faces Tickets and Showtimes:

Tuesday, August 13, 2013 2:00 PM, Friday, August 16, 2013 9:15 PM, Sunday, August 18, 2013 7:30 PM, Saturday, August 24, 2013 5:00 PM

Players Theatre - 115 MacDougal St., New York, NY 10012

Ticket Price: $15 advance; $18 day of show

Ticket Information: 866-468-7619; http://www.fringenyc.org