Forgiveness
The Black Dahlia Theatre under the leadership of Matt Shakman continues to offer Angelinos good theatre with excellent casts, terrific sets and lighting, and his own exemplary direction. The latest offering is called Forgiveness by David Schulner who had another play, An Infinite Ache that played the Dahlia in 2004.
On the title page of the program there is a quote from Reinhold Niebuhr, “The final form of love is forgiveness”. This is a play that examines the role forgiveness can have in preserving or tearing apart a family.
Jill (the excellent Emily Bergl) is engaged to be married to Ben (the intense Peter Smith). They are on the way to her parent’s (Lee Garlington and the award-winning Morlan Higgins) house when Jill drops a bombshell about her relationship with her father that Ben struggles with for the rest of the play. You see Jill and her father have moved on and the stepmother just doesn’t want to know and lives in the present. The rest of the play is spent trying to work out all the quilt and recriminations. Ben is a Jew and says that Jews never forgive. Well, there is your dilemma the quilt and need for vengeance changes the dynamic where Ben must forgive or lose Jill. All this is handled a bit clumsily and you are left asking more questions than you had at the beginning. For instance, why did Jill feel compelled to tell Ben just a few miles from the parents’ house? The nature of the relationship within the family is also a bit fuzzy. As a result it is not clear what the playwright wants to say.
I still enjoyed myself thanks to the superb direction of Matt Shakman and the terrific acting by his cast. Peter Smith fell into the trap of his character and ends up being disliked for his refusal to deal. The nature of the forgiveness within the family is not at all clear but they all give expressive compelling performances. Forgiveness plays at the Black Dahlia Theatre until March 28th.