Remarkable “The Humans” knows all about you
Tony Award winner on stage at Boston’s Shubert Theatre from March 13-25, 2018
Raider Times photo / Courtesy Photo by Julieta Cervantes
The national touring production of “The Humans” — which will be at Boston’s Shubert Theatre through March 25, 2018 — includes (from left) Richard Thomas, Therese Plaehn, Pamela Reed, Lauren Klein, Daisy Eagan, and Luis Vega.
March 15, 2018
This play knows you. It knows the fears you have, the goals you want to achieve, and how society sees you.
“The Humans,” written by Stephen Karam, the 2016 Tony Award winner for Best Play, is much more than just your typical family story. Set in a two-story apartment building in Manhattan, the Blake family comes together for Thanksgiving dinner.
Brigid, played by Daisy Eagan, and her boyfriend, Richard (Luis Vega) choose to celebrate their new home during the holiday. They are joined by Brigid’s father, Erik (Richard Thomas); her mother, Deirdre (Pamela Reed); her loving sister, Aimee (Therese Plaehn), who, during the whole of the story tries to regain herself after a breakup and news of her health deteriorating; as well as her grandmother, Momo (Lauren Klein).
The family talks about their ups and downs and what’s been new since they saw each other. The costumes, although plain, expressed the simplicity in the characters and the comfort that ran within the family.
Throughout the play, you could feel that the audience was connecting their own experiences with what the actors were saying. When there was a moment of silence on stage, for example, the audience genuinely felt it and it was as if for that one minute, everyone in the room was going through the same thing, or something similar to what was going on onstage. The relationship seen within the family is just as you would see in real life. It proves that no family is perfect.
The story is set through the perspective of everyone in the world possible. Although we may not all be bleeding internally, have cheated on our significant other, or be living with dementia, there will always be a certain aspect to the play that is relatable to oneself. That’s just what is true about this story. It stays true to the roots, and is able to relate.
A truly remarkable play.
(“The Humans” is at Shubert Theatre, 265 Tremont St., Boston, from March 13-25. Some scenes contain mature content that may not be appropriate for students younger than in high school. For information or tickets, go to http://www.bochcenter.org/thehumans.)
–March 15, 2018–
