There is a quality of courage that must be acknowledged about literally every aspect of ’night, Mother, the current offering from Altarena Playhouse, from the decision to perform the play to the heroic process of directing and acting, and to those willing to attend and immerse themselves in a story whose theme is suicide.
The plot is deceptively simple. An adult daughter informs her mother that at the end of their weekly gathering to do mom’s nails, her child will take her own life.
What follows is a 90-minute discussion that essentially serves as a suicide note. Throughout the course of the play, the daughter, played with a calm and self-knowing demeanor by Kelly Rinehart, attempts to help her mother understand the decision. As the mother, Billie J. Simmons shows every imaginable emotion in response to her daughter’s declaration—she denies the choice, argues against the evidence, pleads, and then attempts to physically prevent the cessation of life.
Those two paragraphs are where the objectivity and detachment required for artistic criticism must end. I know of no other way to talk about this extraordinary play than by sharing my personal reactions. I will also say that the nature of the play, and the efforts of the actors and director—the remarkable ShawnJ West—make a “normal” review of a play’s elements nearly impossible. The set was solid, the sound and lights supported the story, the costumes were effective. Yet when the topic is this weighty, all that really matters is what’s being said and who is speaking. How dare I say otherwise, having witnessed the effort of these three artists to explore and understand the choice to leave life behind and travel to what Hamlet called, “the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns.”
I cannot help but juxtapose ’night, Mother with Hamlet. The daughter, Jessie, shares with us the “thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to,” which in her case is a lifelong struggle with epilepsy, divorce, a difficult son, and the loss of her father. She is living her best life and it is not enough. She is so very clear about her decision, is thoughtful, calm, and seeking as did Hamlet, “To die, to sleep; to sleep perchance to dream.” And her mother, like myself and others I know who have lost loved ones to suicide, must grapple with the decision—in this case, in real time and in the presence of she who wishes to be unalive. Many years ago a former student of mine, while still a teenager, took his life. To this day I imagine his mom, family, and friends grappling with the question of why, dumbfounded and destroyed.
Why then, might one ask, should anyone see this play? Again I return to Hamlet, who tells his actor friends that their mission is, “To hold, as ’twere, the mirror up to nature.” That is what ’night, Mother does. And while we have a choice to look or not look into that mirror, I urge those who can, who are in a place not too overly and dangerously triggered by the subject, to do so. So many of us have had people in our lives leave of their own accord. This play gives us a chance to consider life, the quality of life, and the choice to end that life. It is not pleasant, it is not joyful, but it is truthful. It is part of the human experience. It’s why “To be or not to be” is so well known and is maybe the most profound question an individual can ponder.
’night, Mother runs until June 28, with performances Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. at Altarena Playhouse, 1409 High Street. For tickets and more information please visit Altarena’s ’night, Mother webpage.
Gene Kahane is the founder of the Foodbank Players, a lifelong teacher, and former Poet Laureate for the City of Alameda. Reach him at [email protected]. His writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Gene-Kahane.
