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After 30 years go by without a word, middle-aged nephew Kemp (Malcolm Gets) receives a letter from Auntie Grace (Helen Stenborg), who is dying, asking him to come take care of her until she meets the grim reaper.
Vigil takes place in the busy, messy bedroom designed by Andromache Chalfant. Kemp has quit his job in a bank and initially appears as altruistic.
He soon reveals himself as a dysfunctional social misfit, born to an alcoholic mother and manic-depressive father and self-described as “an 11 year old transvestite,” giving speeches about wanting to be a girl, his disillusion with the human race and the fact that he has no friends.
Be that as it may, the early beginnings of this dark comedy are replete with quick one-liners punctuated with blackouts such as “What should I do with your dentures?” and “Did you sign your will?”
Kemp is downright mean and contemptible to Auntie Grace, and also has all the lines, while Grace pantomimes 90% of the play, given a few choice words in the second act and a “Merry Christmas” closing the first act. The play comes across as a monologue for Gets, who does an outstanding job, albeit more of a caricature than real. However, we don’t get enough of what could be really great acting by Stenborg.
Throughout, Kemp keeps referencing the old lady across the way sitting in the window, the noisy, annoying children playing ball in the street, all the while trying to nudge Grace into the ethereal hereafter, as he asks what kind of funeral she’d like, does she want to be cremated, preparing her obit and would she like her ashes mixed with soil in an amaryllis plant.
What Kemp thought would be a short time until Grace passed on, turns into weeks, months, more than a year as Grace appears to be getting better, even sneaking a smoke. He can’t wait much longer, so he ups the ante, building a contraption that could knock her out cold, a lamp to electrocute and putting poison in her butterscotch pudding.
The sad and lonely depiction of these two people, are ever-present throughout, and with more dialogue for Stenborg, might have been greatly enhanced. Morris Panych, one of Canada’s most celebrated playwrights, had several options for a surprise ending, all of which could have been accomplished in one act. But writers like to write and eventually the twists and turns wrap up, similar to figuring out whodunit! Yes, Vigil is a clever creative premise with other obvious omissions. Why hasn’t Kemp changed clothing in over a year. Grace, too, could have used some new PJ’s by the second act!
Vigil is directed by Stephen DiMenna, with original music and sound by Greg Pliska, and originally produced by Westport Country Playhouse. It runs through the end of November.
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