Margo on Fran's Bed

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 9/16/05 at 2:17pm

I caught Fran's Bed last night at Playwright's Horizons.

It deals with the impact a middle-aged woman (Mia Farrow) going into a coma has on her husband (Harris Yulin) and two adult daughters (Julia Stiles and Heather Burns). The play, written and directed by James Lapine is basically a character study of Fran, who on the surface seems initially to be a rather average, unassuming housewife, but who through a series of flashbacks is revealed to be much more complicated than that. While a Farrow look-alike mannequin remains immobile in the hospital bed, the real Farrow is free to explore her past and look in on her present in memory play fashion. The memories reveal her initial meeting with her husband, her dysfunctional family life as mother and wife, an affair she has at one point with a local insurance agent, and, in a series of disjointed episodes, her fragile psychological and emotional state which eventually leads to the overdose which puts her in the coma.

Farrow deftly negotiates the character's ever-changing unpredictable moods creating a portrait of an unstable woman full of contradictions and uncertainties which, while fascinating to witness, don't ultimately add up to a truly fully fleshed out character. Lapine has created a laundry list of quirks and traits and neuroses, but the real three-dimensional Fran never seems to come into focus, despite remarkable work here from Farrow.

Nevertheless, the personal character study aspects of the play are stronger and more developed than the sociopolitical issues present here which are only half-heartedly explored by Lapine. When Fran is about to be moved to hospice care (which will allow her to die peacefully) certain administrative complications come in which have implications in the whole debate over the right to die and euthanasia. Lapine merely touches on these issues rather superficially without any depth. While the scenes between the husband and Fran's longtime home care aide who has continued to care for her in the hospice (and wants to preserve her life) have a certain fire (thanks to a very strong perfromance from Brenda Pressley -- just an aside, I haven't seen her in 20+ years since she was a replacement Effie in Dreamgirls; she's still wonderful), there's a feeling that some of these arguments about whether or not to keep Fran alive were simply tacked on at the end by Lapine, almost as an afterthought.

There's also a great deal of ambiguities in the relationships between Fran, her husband and her children that go unexplored here (Do the daughters really love their mother? Or would they prefer her to die and be less of a bother? How deep is the rift between the daughters themselves? And what emotions is the husband going through in all of this?). Yulin, Burns and Stiles are all first rate, but their characters all seem in need of more fleshing out emotionally (the daughters especially are written dangerously close to being "stereotypes" of disgruntled siblings and not full fledged people). There's also fine supporting character work from Marcia DeBonis and Jonathan Walker.

Lapine directs his own work here with efficiency and as much clarity as his writing allows. Derek McLane's set design is clever and effective.

While aspects of the play feel underwritten and incomplete to me, Mia Farrow gives a performance so luminous and assured that it's nearly worth the price of admission by itself. If "Fran's Bed" isn't a fully satisfying experience, Farrow and company make for a frequently diverting 100 minutes of entertainment.

Updated On: 9/16/05 at 02:17 PM

[WonderBoy]

Posted: 9/16/05 at 2:18pm

Thanks Margo! Fabulous review, as always.

[bjivie2]

Posted: 9/16/05 at 2:56pm

I read the subject of this and thought it was about something completely different. Great review. Wish I could see the show.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 9/16/05 at 4:10pm

Margo, I couldn't agree more (except for Burns, whom I couldn't stand).

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 9/16/05 at 4:11pm

Wonderful review, as always Margo!

How much are tickets to this show? I would like to see it...

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 9/16/05 at 4:14pm

$60 for non-members. They also have student rush to all non-sold out performances.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 9/16/05 at 4:24pm

***SPOILER***











Is the television soap opera scene still in the play? If so, I don't understand why they don't cut it. It's laughable and undermines the serious elements of the play.











***END SPOILER***

[robbiej]

Posted: 9/16/05 at 4:27pm

I saw Brenda Pressely do Jar the Floor at Syracuse Stage a dozen years ago. She (and the production) was magnificent. I'm thrilled she's continuing to work!

[AuditioningWaitress]

Posted: 9/16/05 at 4:52pm

Thanks for the great review Margo...Always love reading your reviews!