Review of ‘Clybourne Park’ at Woolly Mammoth

In Act 1, for instance, it never occurs to well-meaning Bev that her housekeeper, Ursula’s Francine, would have no use for the ornate chafing dish she’s trying to get rid of. (Or is it that a mostly white audience laughs, merely because it assumes the maid can’t make use of it?) Watching Ursula’s face, as Francine resists Bev’s patronizing entreaties — or trades meaningful looks with her husband, Russell’s Albert — is a play all unto itself. The couple is just as effective in Act 2, when Ursula is Lena and Russell is Kevin, well-to-do neighbors of the incoming yuppie couple, and who oppose the blueprints for the gut-renovation.

One of the pure joys of this “Clybourne” is that you could diagram every one of the performances this way. Since my first seating more than a year ago, the eight original actors — all of whom return — have further polished their portrayals and find with even more precision their laugh lines’ strike zones.

Nickell, poignantly trailed by Gilbert’s sheepish Betsy in Act 1 and goaded by her antagonistic Lindsey in Act 2, is the evening’s heavy. He appealingly sidesteps the buffoonish caricature that a man of varying degrees of racial insensitivity or ignorance might easily become.

Mendenhall and Hebert, in the play’s opening scene, create a breathtaking synergy, as homeowners with far more on their minds than financial gain or convenience as a rationale for selling. And when Hebert’s broken and heartbroken Russ finally erupts, an audience does not care whether his fury is aimed at his neighbors’ pressure tactics or the unfairness of the universe. It’s all one. Letting go of the place, for him and for Bev, is a sort of downsizing of the heart.

The assignments of Michael Glenn and Chris Dinolfo are not as showy, but they each contribute to the optimal emotional resonance of this venture. Helen Huang’s apt workaday costumes seem intended to evoke time rather than personality: “Clybourne” is absorbed more in the sociological fashion of the day. And the lighting by Colin K. Bills brings into finer focus the house’s design and transformation.

If you didn’t get to see “Clybourne” in its first sold-out run, you’ve been given a terrific second chance. And if you did go before, you’ll be surprised at how many moments will newly provoke and tickle you. In fact, you might even emerge from the experience thinking more of the play than you had before.