Jane Anderson's latest, a domestic drama with a vengeance, deals with the transgender issue in a somewhat superficial but engaging way. Beau Bridges, returning to the stage after 25 years, plays Roy, patriarch of a mid-west family who drops a bombshell on his loved ones by informing them he intends to undergo a sex change. Anderson draws him as a regular guy with no female mannerisms, so much so that it was hard for this reviewer to believe the play's basic premise.
That big weakness aside, I enjoyed the way Anderson developed her tale, which was to dramatize the impact of Roy's decision on those closest to him: his wife Irma (Laurie Metcalf), his 13-year-old daughter Patty Ann (Becky Wahlstrom), his 20-something son Wayne (Jordan Bridges), his pastor (Kelly Connell), his aging parents (Jim Haynie and Marjorie Lovett), and his boss down at the tractor plant, Dougald Park. Reactions range from disbelief, horror, disgust, bewilderment, self-abnegation to compassion, with Irma at the forefront of all those changes, and the kids not far behind.
One has to be extremely courageous or mad to undergo a sex change at such a late stage in life; as the story unfolds we learn (through mock-clinical speeches delivered by Patty Ann and Jordan) that by the time Roy endures chemical and surgical treatment, he will be left without sexual desire. As his tomboy daughter says, what's the point of going through all that torture if you will be become a sexless woman? Roy persists, however, to such an extent that it becomes clear (to this reviewer) that he is not only mentally ill but monstrously selfish in the way he keeps causing pain to others. This is a story, that if written bravely and honestly, would end up a tragedy. But Anderson, good television writer that she is, goes for comedy and uplift in the end.
It makes for a play that is palatable, but not profound, memorable or unsettling, the way all great art is. At the same time, Anderson receives the benefit of such splendid acting (especially on the part of Metcalf) and directing that Normal seems better in performance than it actually is.
