David Auburn’s Summer, 1976 is not exactly shattering but does offer amazing actors Laura Linney and Jessica Hecht a chance to display their incomparable skills in bringing two keenly observed women to life on stage. Auburn’s two-hander produced by Manhattan Theater Club chronicles the friendship of Diana (Linney) and Alice (Hecht) which lasts for a few weeks during the titular season at an Ohio university. Diana is an art teacher and Alice is the wife of an economics professor. The two are brought together by their young daughters and there’s a funny plot twist involving the faculty babysitting system.
Auburn also delicately develops a theme of women and independence, not so subtly connected to the Bicentennial celebration of the setting. The format is the two sitting at a table against a neutral backdrop, telling us the story of their brief but intense connection. (John Lee Beatty designed the understated, tasteful environment transformed into a variety of settings by Japhy Weideman’s painterly lighting). Daniel Sullivan, who previously staged Auburn’s Proof and The Columnist for MTC, directs with sensitivity and subtlety.
The strongest point of this touching and endearing piece is Auburn’s attention to detail in creating the two women. Their vocabulary and quirks are so individual, we get an immediate and deep sense of both. Diana, a bit of a snob, uses adjectives like jejune. We get a notion of her sensuality when she gets aroused by the smells of various art supplies and paints. Alice is down to earth and direct. She speaks in simple, declarative sentences. She has no qualms about reading popular best-sellers of the day like “Shogun” and “Coma.” She is largely comfortable with herself, though insecure and unsure of the strength of her marriage.
Linney and Hecht further delineate the pair with just the right gestures and facial expressions. Linney’s are always appropriate and dead-on. Just for a sample: her voice drips with contempt when describing Alice’s reading habits and aches with regret when she recognizes the friendship may be fading. Hecht gives Alice a marvelously flat midwestern accent and within this range, she creates a galaxy of emotions, thoughts and attitudes from hilarious comic confusion when the babysitting system goes awry to earth-shattering shock when her marriage reaches a breaking point (As an added bonus, Linney also ably plays Doug, Alice’s estranged husband.)
The plot is not remarkable, but Summer, 1976 delivers a real and recognizable slice of the everyday, brought to quivering life by Linney and Hecht, joining Sean Hayes (Good Night, Oscar) and Jodie Comer (Prima Facie) as the top performers of the end of a memorable Broadway season.
