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Peter Simon Hilton, Sarah Street, Harrison Bryan Photo by
Tim Stepien
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As Skylight’s
Director, Vanessa Morosco said “then it was Margaret Thatcher’s day, now it
would be Brexit, but it could be anytime.”
Although class divisiveness is near the heart of Skylight, nearer still is how life, love and loss happens, and Hare's highly acclaimed work will soon
to unfold on the Palm Beach Dramaworks stage.
One could describe it as a sharp-witted tragicomedy, as Tom
Sergeant, a wealthy, middle-aged restaurateur, unexpectedly arrives at the
apartment of the much younger Kyra Hollis, his former employee and ex-lover, a
year after Tom’s wife’s death. Tom and Kyra had a long relationship until Tom’s
wife discovered it. After the discovery,
Kyra walked out, and now teaches underprivileged children and chooses to live
in poverty, incomprehensible to Tom. Can
incompatible values and opposing worldviews be bridged if the passion remains? The entire action happens one night in Kyra’s
apartment, bookended by a visit from Tom’s 18 year old son, Edward.
English playwright Sir David Hare’s barbed language leaves no prisoners, and no
winners or losers. Morosco neatly sums
it up: “although there are political implications the play isn’t preachy and
that aspect can be as subtle as its humor.
It’s there for the audience to interpret. In fact it is the sort of play where the
audience may leave with questions, and that is good. All characters have some semblance of guilt,
are grieving in some way, yet life goes on, for them and for us.”
If the name Vanessa Morosco sounds familiar, she’s acted
in two PBD past productions, Arcadia,
and House of Blue Leaves. But this is not her first directorial effort,
having directed Shakespeare’s Henry V . Her husband Peter Simon Hilton was in that
production and in fact this is their 15th collaboration, acting with each
other. Hilton plays the complex role of
Tom Sergeant, and when asked about his wife directing him, he said “Vanessa has
a generosity of spirit and alacrity of thinking, the speed by which she can
make me as an actor and other actors feel safe is remarkable – she knows how to
look after you.”
Morosco was electric with energy and insight during the
interview, clearly a smart director for a smart play. She added “in directing this play, it helps
to have such a talented cast. And my job
is for them to succeed by balancing the complexity of the play, the class
struggle, the language, the humor, which makes these characters seem so real,
and the political divisiveness still so current.”
Knowing the actor Bill Nighy is closely identified with
Hare’s work and in fact played Tom in the most recent Broadway revival, I asked
Hilton about the comparison: “There are so many layers in the play I don’t feel
it should be necessarily associated with anyone and I feel free to delve into
it with my own interpretation.
Furthermore, my character has a very direct way of talking about
complicated ideas, and I like playing a role such as this, one that doesn’t
necessarily adhere to accepted norms of communication – Tom finds his own way
of communicating.”
Sarah Street, a NYC based actor, is making her PBD debut
as Kyra. “I love playing this role,
because of the script, and the cast and director. I think Kyra has created her own isolated
world, having lived a dream her entire life not realizing how real people live.
After her relationship with Tom she
develops a deep respect for ordinary people and a distrust of rich people who
feel they should be praised for their good fortune. I really enjoy delivering Hare’s language, so striking
and acerbic -- this is how real people speak.”
The role of Tom’s son, Edward, is played by another NYC
based actor, also making his PBD debut, Harrison Bryan. “Even though my role,” says Bryan, “is in
service of a larger story, it is so important to set up the story and is part
of the resolution, coming back in the last scene with a measure of remorse and
maturity.” Bryan amusingly recounted one
of his favorite lines in the play, but one that is said by Tom about Edward
expressing generational issues to Kyra: “I mean, he gives the external signs
[of life]. He eats. He tries to spend all my money. What can you say except he’s eighteen?” And he sees Hare’s use of British curse words
very Shakespearean in nature, such as his line about his father: “Dad is a
fuckpig.”
As one can see, comedy is deeply embedded in this serious
tale of remorse, love and loss, and class struggle.
Skylight
received its world premiere at England’s National Theatre in 1995, and then
moved on to the West End and Broadway. It
was the winner of the 1996 Olivier Award for Best New Play. In 2014, Stephen Daldry directed a new West
End production that starred Carey Mulligan and Bill Nighy which came to
Broadway in 2015 and received a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play.
Dramaworks’ production of this classic runs from February
7 to March 1 at the Don and Ann Brown Theatre in West Palm Beach.
