At first it seems Ronald Harwood, in his generational family drama, is putting his play through an elaborate artifice that gets in the way of the subject at hand. After all, despite its South African setting, Another Time has the usual kitchen/porch permutations, first in the early 1950s as young Leonard (James Waterston) copes with the loveless marriage of his self-pitying dad and overcompensating mom; then thirty-five years later as Leonard, now a father--and now played by Malcolm McDowell, the father of Act One--struggles to communicate with his son. Why, then, does Harwood throw in the Ayckbourn-style contrivance of having simultaneous action in two rooms, one in pantomime while the other plays out? (Rather than bounce between rooms, Harwood has one scene play through, then starts from the beginning on the other side.)
Rewards finally do emerge from this device. The playwright is making a metaphorical point about the family’s inability to communicate. Also, he has fun with the gimmick: an open door allows sound to go from one room into the other, and in act two, which takes place in a recording studio, there’s much-needed comedy as Aunt Rose (Marian Seldes) tries to eavesdrop on the conversation between Leonard and his mother (Joan Copeland).
There’s enough going on in Another Time -- two separate son/parent conflicts, the later one influenced by the earlier; amusing Jewish family banter; adult Leonard’s struggle between political correctness and family ties -- to carry us through the times when talkiness threatens to wrench us from the problems at hand. I do find the coda unnecessary; the play would resonate more deeply if the relationships were left less resolved.
It’s great to see Malcom McDowell in the theater again, especially when he is as effective as he is here. Joan Copeland fumbles too many lines, but she is excellent when her lips don’t sabotage her. James Waterston and Michael Lombard add able support, although it’s Marian Seldes who nearly steals the evening with her delivery of a marvelous speech about the transforming power of art.
Well-written as the play is, I’m not sure the American Jewish Theater’s three-sided space is the ideal venue for it, especially since we have to spend half the evening staring through one busy but not immediately relevant area to see the other. Another Time needs another place.
