For The Pleasure of Seeing Her Again
Directed by John Vreeke
B. Holmes and C. Flye
What The Critics Are Saying About
For The Pleasure of Seeing Her Again
“earthy, effervescent…an unabashedly loving tribute…a woman who ranked
up there with Chaucer and Moliere in her skill at exaggeration and
daggered humor…a Rabelasian heartiness…an entertaining raconteur--Nana
has the soul of an artist…Miss Flye is an ideal fit for the part of
Nana. With her loopy, expressive body
language and hectic delivery, Miss Flye can sell a story like nobody’s
business…she could make a trip to the grocery store seem like a
five-act Greek tragedy, only funnier…about the power of
imagination…potent and lingering…”
Jayne
Blanchard, Washington Times
“an adoring memoir…Tremblay’s affection is so complete that he gives
his mother the stage in every conceivable way…(Catherine) Flye’s a
hoot,
full of righteous criticism and vivid detail…The best part of ‘For the
Pleasure’ is the sly revelation of what this relationship led to: the subtle exchange of cynical critical
distance for openhearted, wide-ranging imagination. It’s
a sweet family portrait…the theatrical flourish that Tremblay
engineers--seems like perfect repayment for gifts that may have been
unwitting, but were lavish nonetheless.”
Nelson
Pressley, Washington Post
“Flye
is at the heart of this piece and makes it a very human heart indeed. The character she creates has enough capacity
to frustrate and irritate her son to keep the portrait from being
cloying,
while filling the hall with the tenderness and love that his
recollections
bring to the fore. She’s funny as well,
delivering Tremblay’s flood of tiny details and strong memories with
energy and flair…‘she takes over the stage the minute she arrives, she
fills it, dominates it,
makes it her kingdom. It is her space.’” A Potomac
Stages Pick
Brad
Hathaway, potomacstages.com
“comic…poignant…universal…veteran
Washington
actress Catherine Flye does a very fine job with material in what is
largely a one woman show.”
Deryl Davis, Washington Theater Review
“sensitive…humorous…heartily
recommended for its stunning performance by Catherine Flye…a three
credit course in the fine art of acting…”
Bob
Anthony
“Audiences
at MetroStage can have the pleasure of seeing Catherine Flye again in a
lovely new, two-person show…emotional sweetness…intellectual honesty…a
charming, heart warming and highly entertaining evening.”
Brad
Hathaway, Alexandria Gazette Packet
'For the Pleasure': Tapping a
Mother Lode
By Nelson Pressley
Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
The usual rule is that when a son writes a play about his mother, she
should look out. But Canadian writer Michel Tremblay goes against
convention in the mannerly and sentimental "For the Pleasure of Seeing
Her Again." The two-character play, being cautiously performed at
Alexandria's MetroStage, is an adoring memoir, and Tremblay's affection
is so complete that he gives his mother the stage in every conceivable
way.
For Nana, as the mother figure is called here, it would have been a
thrill to be in that unfathomable land where artists dwell -- "on the
other side," she calls it. Tremblay obviously gets a kick out of
putting her there,
and he keeps himself -- the narrator, that is -- well out of the way;
the
limelight is strictly for Nana. (Well, it is until Tremblay unveils his
nifty little coup de theatre at the end.) At MetroStage, Bruce M.
Holmes
plays the son, and for almost the entire 90 minutes he sits on one side
of the stage and listens as Catherine Flye, oddly but forgivably
bringing
a bit of her native Britain to this Quebecois figure, chatters and
scolds
and dominates conversations as only an iron-willed mother can.
Tremblay writes about the narrator/son in his formative years, as he
grows from a teenager old enough to talk back a little, to a young man
old enough to be out on his own (and nearly fully out of the closet;
Nana
has a tacit understanding that her son is gay). From his chair on the
side,
Holmes plays the kid without a lot of adolescent-style folderol. He
sends
his lines toward Flye in a straightforward way, sensibly offering the
young
Tremblay's arguments and watching in awe as Flye's Nana replies with
logic
that lifts and twists and blows smoke like a stunt plane.
"I've learned to let you talk," the narrator says to her when he's a
little older. "It's funnier."
True enough, at least some of the time. Flye's a hoot, full of
righteous criticism and vivid detail as Nana reenacts the time she
reluctantly went to see her niece in a school recital ("a vision of
horror," Nana says). More often, you can sense Tremblay scrutinizing
Nana's baffling answers for kernels of sense. Why, for instance, is
Nana so stuck on low-grade melodramatic literature? Can't she tell it's
not remotely real?
Well, sure she can, up to a point, and then why not let go? The best
part of "For the Pleasure" is the sly revelation of what this
relationship
led to: the subtle exchange of cynical critical distance for
openhearted,
wide-ranging imagination. It's a sweet family portrait.
It is not, however, a snap to make this quirky character study feel
full-bodied, and it's a bit curious that MetroStage -- which usually
offers works that aren't done elsewhere -- is reviving a piece that
Arena Stage did (not
memorably) five years ago. Director John Vreeke handles the actors
sensitively,
but he heaps the pressure on Flye, asking her to entertain us almost
single-handedly. She spends virtually every minute smack in the middle
of set and lighting designer Daniel Conway's drab brown decor, looking
like your garden variety dotty woman in a plaid apron with pockets big
enough to hold a bushel of apples.
The less colorful passages still seem a bit perplexing to Flye,
especially as the show gets started, but she's on very solid ground
whenever the material is funny or touching. She's particularly
insightful when Nana gets starry-eyed about the lives of people on "the
other side," those artists whose number will soon include her son. That
adds to the poignancy of Tremblay's fail-safe ending, when he offers
his sickly mother the stage in a more figurative
way. By then, the theatrical flourish that Tremblay engineers -- think
"Finding Neverland" -- seems like perfect repayment for gifts that may
have been
unwitting, but were lavish nonetheless.
MetroStage offers a tender valentine to a late mother
by Jolene Munch
Published on 10/27/2005
There is an unexpected abundance of mined wit and humor in
Michel Tremblay's For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again at
Alexandria's
MetroStage, a tender and affectionate valentine to the playwright's
late
mother. Sprawling over ten of his most impressionable years, Tremblay's
two-character script is practically a one-woman monologue that unfolds
over the course of ninety minutes.
In an energetic flurry of memory and emotion, Catherine Flye
crafts a profound performance as the narrator's mother, an instantly
recognizable figure of all that is maternal. She is not unlike a
universe of mothers
past and present who dote and dream and criticize, exaggerating the
truth
just a wee bit to illustrate points already well made. Flye is a
nervous
Nelly of a mum, prone to vivid hyperbole (''He doesn't like my cooking;
he's going to kill me'') and gluttonous fits of melodrama in an
exhausting,
highly physical interpretation.
As her bemused (and barely closeted) son, Bruce M. Holmes has
little to do other than open the act with an extended bit about what
his play
is not. After introducing his histrionic subject -- ''Words
were her weapons,'' he explains -- Holmes fades into the background to
observe his mother's storytelling until he must react to it. Here,
Holmes
displays the unnatural talent of relinquishing the floor to Flye while
also staying engaged in her relentless banter.
For the Pleasure of
Seeing Her Again
MetroStage
To 11/27
$35-$40
1-800-494-8497
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Linda Gaboriau is credited with translating the words of one
of
Canada's most prolific and most lauded playwrights, and there are some
particularly lovely moments in Tremblay's tribute, including a humorous
passage about Tremblay's interest in literature at an early age and a
poignant observation by his mother on the unique and isolated
relationship between actor and
audience.
All of Tremblay's memories play out in a fluid, faultless
production under the direction of John Vreeke, culminating in one of
the most moving and memorable endings the theatre arts can produce.
When Tremblay's mother must finally surrender to the sickness that took
her life, Vreeke stages a beautifully ephemeral and graceful journey
for a mother and her grateful son.
October
12 - November 27, 2005
For The
Pleasure of Seeing Her Again |
Reviewed October 16
Running time 1:30 - no intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for pure charm
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Here's a play with a perfect title, a thoroughly satisfying structure
and casting that fits remarkably well. The concept of the play is the
playwright's desire to have one more conversation with his late mother,
the woman who was so instrumental in his becoming a playwright in the
first place. The result is a pleasure for audiences. The casting of
Catherine Flye adds a rich dimension, leaving you wanting to return to
have the pleasure of her company again. Flye puts a distinctively
British stamp on the part which was originally written as a portrait of
and tribute to a French-Canadian Quebecois, the mother of Canada's
highly successful playwright Michel Tremblay (author of Albertine
in Five Times). British or French-Canadian, the bond between a
mother and son can be so strong and so universal that cultural or
linguistic distinctions become irrelevant.
Storyline: A playwright
misses his late mother and wants one more chance to have the pleasure
of her company. He recalls five different conversations he had with her
at different times during his youth and finally finds a way to
repay her in part for her role in developing his talents and interest
in literature and the theater.
Flye is at the heart of this
piece and makes it a very human heart indeed. The character she creates
has enough capacity to frustrate and irritate her son to keep the
portrait from being cloying, while filling the hall with the tenderness
and love that his recollections bring to the fore. She's funny as well,
delivering Tremblay's flood of tiny details and strong memories with
energy and flair, but never descending into shtick.
As fine as Flye's
performance
is, it is well matched by Bruce M. Holmes in the supporting role of
the son. Supporting is the proper term here, for his primary function
is support for the actress playing the mother. He is a sounding board,
the character to whom she is talking and his reactions trigger hers.
He begins the evening as a narrator with the almost too cute opening
explanation for the show, but segues into the memory play gracefully.
He retakes a position of prominence for the final effect which is
nicely
rendered and terribly touching. In between, he sits to the side of the
stage much as the dutiful son would do while Mum lectures, instructs,
corrects and - occasionally - praises.
Director John Vreeke has
Holmes enter from the rear of the hall and deliver much of the opening
explanation on his feet before he gets to his chair by the side of the
stage.
He has him return to the middle of the hall at the end as he unveils
set designer Daniel Conway's final effect. These two off-stage
transitions work well to draw the audience in and emphasize the fact
that essence of the play is memory. It also concentrates the attention
on Flye
for the bulk of the evening. She hardly needs such an assist from
the blocking, however. She takes the stage just as the stage directions
in the script specify: "(she) takes over the stage the minute she
arrives, she fills it, dominates it, makes it her kingdom. It is her
space." Indeed, it is.
Written by Michel
Tremblay. Translated by Linda Gaboriau. Directed by John Vreeke.
Design: Daniel Conway (set and lights) Rosemary Pardee (costumes)
Veronica Lancaster (sound) Christopher O. Banks (photography) Kate
Kilbane (stage manager). Cast: Catherine Flye, Bruce M. Holmes
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A CurtainUp DC  Review
For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again
by Rich See
Michael Tremblay's two-person piece about a man who envisions visiting
with his deceased mother is a gently sweet production that looks at the
"every mother" who has been a staple of humanity since man and
womankind
first walked the earth. The caregiver and protector of her family who
is
not without her own flaws, she raises her children in the hopes that
they
will surpass her own achievements, while never surpassing their need
for
her care or nurturing. In America, she's the middle class Mom; more
flesh,
blood and opinionated than Mrs. Cleaver, yet still there with the
cookies
when you need a treat.
A homage to his own imaginative and loving mother, Tremblay starts his
play when the narrator is ten years old and has just been caught
throwing iceballs at passing vehicles by a neighborhood policeman. Over
the course of the ninety-minute show, you see how the mother/son
relationship changes, but the core of it remains the same. Mother
teaches son, son teaches mother and the two worry about each other as
their lives progress and their stories intertwine. Developed in five
segments, which follow the narrator until he is twenty-two and
attending graphic design school, there is almost as much unstated in
the mother/son dynamic as is stated. It's the reading between the
lines, the emotions underlying the words, that pulls us into the play
and keeps us riveted as we watch the two discuss French novels,
Saturday night dinners, relatives and laundry accidents.
Filled with humor and some touching sadness, the piece pulls at our
sentimental heartstrings without becoming maudlin or saccharine. Which
is a testament to the author's talents and one reason he is one of
Canada's
most prolific and published playwrights.
Director John Vreeke has developed a nicely paced play that never lags
and seldom wanders off target. Set and lighting designer Daniel Conway
has created a series of screens that allow an ethereal, dream-like
quality to pervade the production. Rosemary Pardee's costumes are on
the mark as the working class wear of the author's roots.
Bruce Holmes does an admiral job as the ever-aging Narrator. Starting
out at ten he creates the chastised child, the disdainful teen and
finally the young man on the outset of becoming "something." What he is
becoming he is not sure, just that he is embarking on his life journey
while his
Mother's is nearing an end.
Catherine Flye as Nana is wonderful, witty and entrancing! While the
Narrator is an important part of the play, it's Ms. Flye's character
who charges the piece with her ongoing monologues and comedic tirades
that reveal her insecurities and limitations as well as her fertile
imagination and inner
strength. While she is a wonderfully loving mother, she is also a human
being with flaws and so we see a gossipy, insecure and at times
exasperated parent confused by her son's predisposition for asking hard
questions that never occurred to her. It's a wonderful three
dimensional portrayal of at least one woman that you probably know. If
you are looking to treat yourself, For the Pleasure of Seeing Her
Again may be the production
to take in and savor.
Memories of a Mother, Brought Fondly
to Life
By Michael J. Toscano
Special to The Washington Post
Thursday, November 17, 2005; Page VA06
Fans of actress Catherine Flye have just a few chances left to see her
in "For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again," which Alexandria's
MetroStage has produced primarily as a vehicle for her considerable
talents. Almost a one-woman show, the play is a mix of character study
and memoir, allowing Flye to demonstrate why she is an audience
favorite.
"For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again" is a sentimental series of
vignettes written by French Canadian playwright and novelist Michel
Tremblay in memory of his mother, a warm and loving figure whom he
credits with inspiring
his artistic sensibilities even as she raised him with firm direction.
He calls her Nana and lets us meet her through the memories of a loving
son.
Bruce Holmes as the Narrator and Catherine Flye as Nana in "For the
Pleasure of Seeing Her Again," which is being produced by Alexandria's
MetroStage. (By Christopher O. Banks)
As Tremblay portrays her, Nana is a compulsive storyteller who enlarges
the most mundane events and observations into epic tales to make a
drab, working-class life in early 1950s Canada bearable, thus passing
on to her son the desire to write and create.
One of the pillars of modern theater is the pathology of
mother-playwright relationships. The torment caused by mothers absent
or overbearing, psychologically frail or abusive, has given writers
some of their best material. Would we have the masterpieces of
Tennessee Williams or Eugene O'Neill without mothers who contributed to
their sons' need to work out their problems on paper?
Well, there is none of that here. Tremblay has written a love letter
to his mom, and Flye brings her warmly to life. In fact, the only other
character in the play, the Narrator (played by Bruce Holmes), who
resembles
the playwright as a younger man, tells us in the opening moments that
we
are not going to experience theater; we are just going to meet an
ordinary
woman.
That promise is more or less kept, until the closing moments, when a
high degree of theatricality is introduced in a sentimental finale that
allows the son a chance to say an extended goodbye to his mother. But
for
most of the 90 minutes, the Narrator provides brief segues between
Nana's
stories, observations and the exhortations from a mother to the son she
worries about, instilling in him a love for words and illusion and
drama.
Flye weaves a strong spell. Directed by John Vreeke, she brings as much
realism as is possible in what is essentially hagiography. She gives
Nana some prickly moments, and one can frequently sense inner fire,
tension and weariness beneath the placid exterior.
It is odd that Flye, a London-trained actor, plays the role of a French
Canadian woman by speaking in an English accent. Odder still, it
doesn't seem to matter, especially as Holmes speaks with Midwestern
American tones as her son.
Just as her character inhabits the playwright's memory, Flye remains
onstage throughout the play, even as the son/Narrator is briefly
talking
to the audience about her. Vreeke usually places her just a few feet
away
in those moments, and she silently observes from the shadows behind one
of several screens on the mostly barren stage. Holmes usually stays put
in the lone chair as his character reaches back into various stages of
his
childhood and coming of age to summon up her tales.
Perhaps that's how he thinks of her now -- gone, but always near. The
writing of this play might have been a way for the playwright to keep
his mother alive and to allow him the pleasure of her company again.
But thanks to Flye's gifts for creating a natural, gritty presence
onstage, it's a pleasure
shared by those who see the play that resulted.
"For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again" continues through Nov. 27 at
MetroStage, 1201 N. Royal St., Alexandria. Showtime is 8 p.m.
Wednesdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are
available athttp://www.boxofficetickets.comor by calling 800-494-8497.
For more information, visithttp://www.metrostage.com.
For the Pleasure of Seeing Her
Again
by Michael Tremblay
Directed by John Vreeke
with Catherine Flye and Bruce M. Holmes
Set and Lighting Design: Daniel Conway
Costume Design: Rosemary Pardee
Sound Design: Veronica Lancaster
Running Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes with no intermission
MetroStage, 1201 North Royal Street, Alexandria
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