Goldfish, the first full production by New Haven Theater Company since Annapurna last May, features a scenic design by director John Watson that truly sets the stage: on one side, a kitchen in a scrappy apartment where 19-year-old Albert Ledger (Nick Fetherston) lives with his father Leo (John Strano), a widower who has a problem holding onto money whenever there’s something to bet on; on the other side, a sumptuous house where a divorced mother, Margaret (Sandra E. Rodriguez), swills martinis in her pajamas and pearls, while sharing smokes with her daughter Lucy (Sara Courtemanche), also 19. In between is a shifting space — now library, now cafeteria, now bed, now bus stop — that serves as the upstate college, set amidst rolling hills, where Albert and Lucy meet and evolve a relationship.
The drama in John Kolvenbach’s play is a question of whether or not these lovestruck teens will be able to avoid being pulled back into the black holes otherwise called their home lives. The play runs for one more weekend — March 9 at 7:30 and March 10 and 11 at 8 p.m. — at the New Haven Theater Company stage at 839 Chapel St.
Kolvenbach’s characters have a way of expressing themselves that’s provocative enough to keep our interest, even if the situations he creates seem a tad obvious. In particular, the elders in these scenarios are ably served by Strano and Rodriguez. The best scenes involve Margaret: whether sketching to her daughter colorfully but reluctantly her past with Lucy’s father, or interrogating Albert during an awkward visit, she’s written with an inebriated flair that Rodriguez makes charming and motivated. Margaret may have taken refuge in a bottle, but there’s stlll somebody home when she has to be.
Likewise, Strano brings such dissolute charm to the part of Leo that we can easily believe he manages to wow Albert’s mom, a person who would otherwise be deemed too good for someone like him. Leo knows who he is and that he’s lucky to have a son like Albert — an extremely capable if somewhat buttoned-up student — but that doesn’t stop him from putting everything at risk, time and time again. Leo’s way with words and his willingness to berate himself also prevent Albert from making the angry break he often threatens.
Albert too has his moments, as when he describes for his father, with a certain sneering superiority, his visit to the college’s dean, or when he sets out his favorite (rather mild) revenge fantasy. Fetherston brings a youthful intensity to the role, making Albert obsessive but not unappealing. Perhaps there’s a touch of Benjamin Braddock, Dustin Hoffman’s breakout role in The Graduate — which would not be out of place, since Longo manages to recall at times Hoffman’s next big role, Ratso Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy. Which might just be a way of saying that, intentional or not, such roles and actor turns hang in the air to be recalled.
Lucy is the role that gets the shortest shrift, never quite compelling us into an understanding of what Kolvenbach means her to be. Her interest in Albert — which is switched on from the start — might lead us to believe that lightning strikes twice for the men in the Ledger family, and that Albert’s going to snag a bride from higher up the food chain, much as his old man did. But that’s not how it plays, because we don’t get much sense of Lucy’s strengths. Albert has conflict and uncertainty and pride and a need to prove himself. Lucy is a barrage of questions and assertions with her mother, and doting or petulant — or inquisitive — with Albert. What comes out best in Courtemanche’s easygoing performance is how young and unformed Lucy is, which perhaps makes us side a bit with Mom, whether or not that’s the intention.
All in all, though, we’re rooting for the kids, meanwhile hoping that the respective dad and mom might get it together at last and realize that, even if the ship has sailed for both of them, there’s still some purpose to being the wind in their children’s sails. And anchoring someone should be a means of giving them something to rely on, not burdening them with a weight that will drag them down.
Swift in its approximately 90 minutes with no intermission, the play’s end almost signals there might be a sequel. If not, we can say that the situation for the characters changes for the worse — and then marginally for the better. Or maybe, as with a goldfish in a bowl, some lives just go round and round and round.
Goldfish runs through next weekend at New Haven Theatre Company, 839 Chapel St. Visit the theater’s website for tickets and more information.