In Cult of Love, the brand new play from Leslye Headland, 4 now-grown, semi-estranged siblings return to their childhood residence for Christmas, and are confronted by a probably ailing father, in addition to numerous interpersonal disappointments and conflicts. That’s all to say that sure, the set-up recollects Wes Anderson’s Christmas-adjacent basic The Royal Tenenbaums, and that’s even earlier than one character virtually quotes Anderson’s film, petulantly asking the Dahl household matriarch “Why is she allowed to try this?” when studying that one sibling, alongside along with her husband and child, might be staying on the mother and father’ cozily lit, seemingly well-appointed Westchester residence indefinitely. (Margot Tenenbaum demanded to know the identical factor when Chas returned residence together with his younger sons.)
However by the tip of this one-act dramedy, Headland’s first Broadway manufacturing, comparisons to the superficially related earlier movie fall away with a decidedly completely different ratio of bitter to candy. Cult of Love is completely different, too, from the films Headland herself has written and directed: the caustically humorous Bachelorette (tailored from her personal play), and the gentler however no much less hilarious rom-com Sleeping with Different Individuals; this one has much less banter and fewer zingers by design (although loads of laughs stay). Oddly and curiously, the play, first carried out in 2018, shares extra frequent floor with The Acolyte, Headland’s conspicuously underrated Star Wars TV sequence that despatched sure followers into paroxysms of discomfort earlier this yr earlier than Disney acquiesced with a cancellation. That YA-skewing area fantasy addressed competing perception methods and the sometimes-thin line between loyalty and fanaticism. The characters in Cult of Love face an analogous battle, the place a household may be as variously binding, poisonous, loving and troublesome to flee as any faith. Or cult.
At first, the non secular roots of the Dahl household seem comparatively innocuous. The present is dotted with musical performances – most overtly non secular songs, however alongside snippets of pop tunes like White Winter Hymnal by Fleet Foxes, or a fleeting pattern of Creep by Radiohead – by some mixture of the patriarch Invoice (David Rasche) on piano, the eldest son Mark (Zachary Quinto) on banjo or guitar, and the youngest sister Diana (Shailene Woodley) on beatific vocals, joined by the older sister Evie (Rebecca Henderson) as their mom Ginny (Mare Winningham) seems on, having fun with the togetherness and residing in denial about every part else. Certainly, these impromptu singalongs appear to be the one actual harmonies that the characters can return to, as if snapping right into a trance.
Exterior the music, tensions rise: Evie accurately feels that some members of the family don’t know behave round her and her new spouse, Pippa (Roberta Colindrez), who’s spending Christmas with the Dahls for the primary time. Mark’s spouse, Rachel (Molly Bernard), in the meantime, is an previous hand at it and hasn’t grown to seek out the expertise any extra nice (“You get used to it,” is the perfect she will supply to Pippa). Nobody’s eaten dinner but, as a result of they’re all ready for the arrival of the youthful son Johnny (Christopher Sears), a recovering addict – which suggests they’re additionally ready on pins and needles to see if he reveals up in any respect. All through, the grown kids attempt to determine speak about Invoice’s clearly failing psychological schools, which Ginny refuses to even acknowledge. The director, Journey Cullman, evokes each the hominess and strangeness of a go to residence, no small feat when coping with a single stage set.
Lots of the Dahl household issues – individually acquainted, and even, with the fabric involving dementia and drug dependancy, bordering on cliche – circle again to faith. Not the failure of 1 specifically, however what quantities to a sequence of schism within the household’s personal doctrine: some members, most vehemently Diana and her husband, James, (Chris Lowell), have stored their Christian religion; others have extricated themselves in idea however maybe not in apply. Headland captures the round, overlapping, interrupting dialogue of a loving however incompatible household, and at occasions the sheer cacophony poses a problem for the actors; on the press preview, a few them appeared to stumble over interlocking strains. However the performances are uniformly glorious nonetheless, with Woodley significantly fearless when it comes to making the seemingly candy Diana directly extra pitiable and fewer likable than she initially seems. If anybody will get shortchanged, it’s Quinto, taking part in an element that’s positioned as a lead however usually recedes into the background, as if Headland isn’t absolutely sure who Mark is.
Possibly that uncertainty is a part of the design, nonetheless; Mark isn’t certain who he’s, both. Cult of Love is no less than partly about how deeply household ties can change into embedded in our identities, even when it occurs towards our will, and/or outstays its welcome – therefore the cult comparability, by no means over-explicated within the textual content of the play itself, however an excellent working metaphor that echoes after the ultimate curtain. Headland’s work as a playwright displays her broader curiosity within the social parts of faith; this play is the ultimate entry in her Seven Lethal Sins cycle, every work addressing (if typically obliquely) a selected transgression. As such, she finds herself in an ungainly place: Cult of Love is designated to characterize the sin of satisfaction, but it’s a piece to be pleased with, nonetheless.
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