Theater Review: Curse Of The Starving Class At Signature Theatre
If there is one thing Sam Shepard enjoyed as a playwright, it is symbolism. From an empty fridge to a lamb ready to eat any intruding maggots, Signature Theater’s revival of Curse of The Starving Class, playing until June 2, is not only poignant; it is predictive. As the middle class disappears and the amount of over-worked, under-paid citizens increases, the Starving Class family might feel more company in their misery.
As a cast, you cannot beat Starving Class. Each cast member emanates their frustration, sadness, boredom, and rage at having to find ways to survive a life they barely want to live. Maggie Siff plays matriarch, Ella, with a growing numbness for her situations. She sizzles literal bacon as her children starve; setting the tone that she does not care for these people she has to call a family. Yet, at times, we cannot blame her for her exhaustion, especially when it comes to husband Weston (David Warshofsky). As a drunkard, Warshofksy kills it (lol!). He is angry, depressed, dirty, and falling over himself in bad choices, which makes you wonder how this couple has lasted, especially as parents.
Gilles Geary plays Wesley, and completely steals hearts with pity. His attempts to repair his family and protect his sister backfire to the point that you, as a viewer, realize how much our parents mistakes mold our ability to gain and see right choices. In a family that cannot seem to “win one,” Geary makes Wesley a poster child for an abandoned child with a waning ability to see better paths, of which, in this dark comedy, he might have the darkest turn. Yet, it is little sister Emma (Lizzy DeClement) that steals the show as the purest, brightest, and feistiest heart that, eventually, pays the biggest price. DeClement is the light breathe in a family running out of spiritual oxygen; even worse, no one is helping them.
In the same way, rich people mostly know rich people, poor people mostly know poor people. You do not only stay in your class economically but also personally, which can be seen by dubious bar-owner Ellis (Esau Pritchett) or manipulative lawyer, Taylor (Andrew Rothenberg), ready to swindle this family and Ella. Now I would NEVER say poor people are horrible because then I would have to look in a mirror (lol!). Yet, Curse of The Starving Class is filled with characters that are so materially desolate they question the purpose of being “spiritually wealthy.” In other words, why be good when you have it bad?
From the morally best to the worst characters, The Curse of The Starving Class displays the loneliness and dire straits a person takes to move up; with hopes of both a better life and better people waiting on the other side. Nearly each character challenges their own dignity and future. Thus, as I watched Shepard’s Curse of The Starving Class, I kept on thinking, “What is the curse?” Is is to be in a constant state of want that never subdues or satisfies? Is it to feel so disgusted by your poverty and helplessness in resolving it that you completely waste away in body and soul? Director Terry Kinney brilliantly presents Shepard’s script as an affront to capitalistic greed, and Julian Crunch’s set is designed to appear like a worn-out home: reflective of its inhabitants. For More Information And To Buy Tickets Click Here.
