In “Maria/Stuart,” a humorous blend of the mundane and the absurd, Jason Grote has given new breadth, depth and meaning to the phrase “dysfunctional family.” When three sisters meet to celebrate their mother’s birthday, they and their children aggravate each other until the air crackles with static.
But Grote is not simply poking fun at the unlovely lives of two suburban American families. Right from the beginning he introduces a shapeshifter who appears out of nowhere, spouts German poetry and guzzles soda. Grote’s characters are continually measured by their willingness to admit the presence of this restless searcher for truth, who suggests that the supernatural is as real as quotidian reality.
“Maria/Stuart” is patterned after Friedrich Schiller’s 19th-century Romantic drama “Maria Stuart,” which examines the murder of Mary Queen of Scots at the hand of her cousin, England’s Queen Elizabeth I. But you don’t need to know that play to appreciate the intense rivalry of Grote’s warring sisters, foul-mouthed Lizzie and paranoid Marnie, capably portrayed by Emily Townley and Amy McWilliams, respectively.
Their supremely eccentric sister, Sylvia, is played with entertaining insouciance by Naomi Jacobson. Sarah Marshall appears as the stolid, frustrating Ruthie. The unfortunate children, Hannah and Stuart, are sensitively portrayed by Meghan Grady and Eli James.
James Kronzer’s set is a brilliant merging of two kitchens, whose cabinets meet in an arch high above the stage. Lighting designer Colin Bills’s work is particularly effective when a sturm-und-drang scene causes the lights to flicker, outlining the cabinets in bright white light.
Director Pam MacKinnon keeps the play moving quickly, but even so, it lags in the second act, perhaps because the sloppy shapeshifter — who gets the funniest lines — is less visibly present. More important, the promise of “Maria/Stuart” slowly dissipates. The beginning of the play flirts with the notion that secrets will be revealed and truths told but in the end, it’s apparent that people will do anything to avoid the truth. In the “real” world, they just sweep the kitchen floor and clean the counters, but the big mess still remains.
(If you go: Through Sept. 14; Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company; 641 D Street NW, Washington; 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday; 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sunday; $26 to $60; 202-393-3939; www.woollymammoth.net.)
