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Fields offers a rich crop

OF THE FIELDS, LATELY by David French, directed by Ted Dykstra (Soulpepper). At the Young Centre (55 Mill). To July 30, Monday-Saturday 8 pm, matinees Saturday and July 8 and 15 at 2 pm. $36-$68, student $28, rush $20 (youth $5). 416-866-8666. See listing. Rating: NNNN


You’ve probably seen lots of plays about dysfunctional families, from Hamlet to Long Day’s Journey Into Night and Spring Awakening (both play and musical). But few authors explore the idea so tenderly and humorously as David French in his Mercer family plays, begun at the Tarragon in the 70s.

A few years ago Soulpepper staged the first local professional remount of Leaving Home, set in late-50s Toronto, which kicks off the five-play series. The company followed it with Salt-Water Moon, a prequel which takes us to Newfoundland and Jacob Mercer’s courtship of Mary, later his wife.

Now the company brings us the follow-up to Leaving Home, Of The Fields, Lately, which continues the tensions between 52-year-old Jacob (Kenneth Welsh) and his son Ben (Jeff Lillico), who indeed left home and returns two years later for his aunt’s funeral.

The reunion isn’t helped by Jacob’s ill health, which mother Mary (Diane D’Aquila) has kept from her son typically, she’s the peacemaker between father and son. Should Jacob go back to work, as he wants? Should Ben stay home and not return west? Can Ben’s uncle Wiff (Eric Peterson), now a widower, help bring the family together?

French’s script explores the nuances of these relationships, illuminating the similar stubborn pride and easily sparked anger between Ben and his father and Mary’s dedication to a sick husband rather than a temperamental son. If Wiff often comes across as a comic figure – and in the hands of Peterson, he’s an expert storyteller – he also has some touching moments, including one in which he explains to Mary why he didn’t come to his dead wife’s side.

Reprising their roles in Leaving Home, Welsh, Lillico and D’Aquila understand the thorny but powerful bonds that keep this family together. At its core are a father and son who try to share their love but are unable to do so ironically, a mutual lie finally brings them together.

As Jacob, Welsh reveals a tired man, sometimes physically sunk into himself. Still, his Jacob can goad Ben into sharp words and catches fire himself with very little tinder. But he provides laughs, too, for the ongoing bickering between Mary and Jacob is as often amusing as it is sharp-edged. Welsh expertly plays the scene in which Jacob talks about his own father, for here we realize that this family’s problems are deep-seated and generational.

Lillico’s Ben, uncomfortable in his father’s presence, is more relaxed with his uncle and Mary, on whom he still depends. French has given him a pair of memory scenes that frame the play’s action and suggest Ben’s anguish and powerful need for Jacob’s love.

D’Aquila’s Mary is the family’s emotional rock, holding it together while treating the two key men in her life as boys who need cajoling, distracting, placating and maneuvering to keep calm in the household.

Tuesday’s opening night performance didn’t uncover all the emotional subtext, but with more playing the strong cast under director Ted Dykstra is sure to strengthen French’s unspoken nuances – the caring that lies beneath the explosions, the fear beneath the bravado, the affection beneath the rejection.

Then this simple, resonant play will soar.

The first three plays, by the way, have just been republished by House of Anansi Press, with a foreword by Soulpepper’s Albert Schultz.

jonkap@nowtoronto.com

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