Celine and Hakoun Alan Goodman argue about who should take possession of the French apartment in Israel Horowitz’s My Old Lady
By Britin Haller
Rarely does a play come along where it can be said that each character has a clearly defined story arc, or narrative path if you will. Often, whether intentionally or not, endings are ambiguous, as life tends to be. Such is not the case with My Old Lady, now playing at the West Boca Theatre Company, because when the figurative curtain comes down, all three individuals whose lives we’ve just been part of are markedly changed forever.
Written by prolific playwright Israel Horovitz, it’s just another day in Paris for most, but not for Mathias Gold, Mathilde Girard, and her daughter Chloé, whose worlds are about to collide when Mathias turns up in Mathilde’s apartment with news that he’s inherited the place from his now-deceased father, and he expects Mathilde to get out so he can sell it.
The only problem is she’s not going anywhere. Never mind the fact she’s ninety, OK, make that ninety-two. She has what’s essentially a life estate on the place, meaning she can croak there if she wants to, and Mathias can have nothing to say about it.
Only Mathias does, of course, have something to say about it. A lot actually. But as she tells Mathias, “French women can live a very long time. It’s the red wine and oysters.” And since she’s in excellent health, it’s unlikely her demise will be happening anytime soon.
So when it becomes clear neither party is backing down, they do the only sane thing: They agree that Mathias will move in for the foreseeable future, upsetting Chloé who lives there too. Over the next few days, weeks, or is it months, decades-old secrets are revealed, tragic questions are answered, and it becomes obvious absolutely none of this is circumstantial.
Celine Hakoun is Chloé Girard, an “unclaimed jewel” as this critic’s spinster aunt called herself, and since Chloé is nearing sixty with no immediate marital prospects, her situation isn’t likely to soon change. She teaches English at the school that her mother owns and rarely leaves the apartment. Hakoun gets the job done with an understated portrayal of a woman longing for something more, or to paraphrase those classic William Shatner lines from a skit on Saturday Night Live, Chloé wants to get herself a life and move out of her mother’s basement. Hakoun plays Chloé with the perfect amount of kindness, cynicism, and angst.
Nikki Saed is Mathilde Girard, a woman who reads Philip Roth novels and has many secrets including her exact age, and that’s just the beginning of it. Creating a character who’s essentially in denial of her entire life can’t be an easy feat for an actor, but Saed pulls it off splendidly, growing more and more agitated when she realizes not only has she been lying to everyone important to her, but most importantly, she’s been lying to herself for the past sixty-plus years.
Former MTV television executive Alan Goodman has been making quite a name for himself on the South Florida stage recently, and his portrayal of the son of a man who detested and ignored him his whole life may be the most pitiful and self-pitying role of Goodman’s career. Not for no good reason, mind you, because while the down-on-his-luck self-described “loser” Mathias Gold may think all he wants is to sell the apartment for the money, as he quickly learns, he couldn’t be more wrong.
Goodman’s monologue about his parents is heartbreaking, and his back and forth with Chloé showcases a man who fights back when he feels wounded. “Did you hunt with your father? Because you seem to have the killing spirit,” he tells her during one exchange. At one point, Mathias speaks of an incident where he needed twenty stitches. After the show, Goodman relays to this critic that the thespian repeatedly rubs that place on his hand in order to feel the depths of Mathias’s pain. Now that’s method acting.
Mathilde’s apartment is, as we are informed, huge with at least ten rooms that have been closed off. For the sake of practicality, we see only the living room adorned with worn, but comfy-looking furniture (especially that big chair!) befitting a Paris apartment overlooking the Jardin du Luxembourg, a real-life fifty-seven-acre garden that we see glances of through the two windows. A record player in the corner is used for a nice bit with Mathias. The artwork is appropriately Parisian looking.
As is typical for the West Boca Theatre Company, the three-person in-house team of Alan Nash, Mark Hernandez, and the indefatigable Holly Budney do it all: directing, producing, stage managing, set building and designing, costumes, tech, and everything else. A very special shout-out to Budney for the inclusion of such classic songs as “I Love Paris” and “La Vie En Rose.”
In the end, despite the dark themes of which there are several, no questions remain. Everyone’s arcs come full-circle, and it’s easy to imagine a happily-ever-after for all of them. After all, “A perfect flower is nearly old.”
But man, did it take a lot to get there.
Horovitz founded a theater company in Massachusetts where this 1996 play premiered. My Old Lady is also a 2014 movie directed by him. It stars Dame Maggie Smith, Kevin Kline, and Dame Kristin Ann Scott Thomas in the three primary roles, along with a cast of others not seen in the stage version. While in production for the film, Horowitz revised My Old Lady into the script we see today.
The play was produced by Palm Beach Dramaworks in 2014 with Estelle Parsons, Angelica Page and Tim Altermeyer.
From The Let’s Give Credit Where Credit Is Due Department: The third time was the charm as we were pleasantly surprised to enter a theater with a comfortable temperature, where people were not holding onto their next-door neighbors to stay warm. But just in case, the blanket on this critic’s seat (provided by Holly Budney who really does think of everything) was a nice touch, although not at all lending to this favorable review. They earned that all on their own.
My Old Lady from the West Boca Theatre Company runs through January 22 at the Levis JCC Sandler Center, 1050 95th Avenue S., Boca Raton (south of Glades Rd, west of Lyons, be prepared to present your driver’s license at the guard gate); 7:30 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. Wednesdays and Sundays. Running time approx. 115 minutes includes a 15-minute intermission. Tickets starting at $35 for non-JCC members. Call 561-558-2520, or visit levisjcc.org.
Britin Haller is a mystery author and an editor for Turner Publishing. Her recent short story “So Many Shores in Crookland” can be read in the 150th issue of Black Cat Weekly. Britin’s latest edit, a cozy mystery novel called Dumpster Dying is by Michelle Bennington and available where books are sold. Find Britin across social media
