Proof
Directed by Sara Jones
Produced by Allen Contemporary Theatre
Reviewed by Jenny Wood
It’s easy to say David Auburn's Proof is about math, it’s not.
I’m nowhere near the first to say this. When it debuted in 2000, and as it went on to win its Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play in 2001, this was a common assessment.
In the intervening years, Proof has variously been described as a mystery without a murderer, an examination of genius vs. madness, a discussion of family relationships, and a commentary on gender bias in academia.
These are obvious themes of the play, clearly worthy of discussion…but watching it in 2023, it strikes me hard in the head and the heart as a play about a young woman who just wants to be believed.
Our protagonist Catherine (Karina Barrett) has been living with her ailing mathematician father, Robert (James Bloomingdale), as his mental acuity declines and she eventually drops out of university to provide live-in care. Her older sister Claire (Hannah Destiny Lynn), a successful financial analyst, has been contributing financially from afar, and returns home in the wake of Robert’s passing to find Robert’s former student, Hal (Andy Beckman), at the house sorting through Robert’s notes and ostensibly courting Robert’s younger daughter.
Among 100 notebooks, a 40 page revolutionary proof is discovered and a litany of questions are raised: Who is more qualified to assess the origin and value of this proof? The young man who studied with him for a few years at university? Or the young woman who studied with him at home for 25 years? If Claire’s sister inherited their father’s genius, did she also inherit his madness? Is Hal sincere in his pursuit of Catherine, or is he just trying to piggyback off of Robert’s notoriety?
As we, the audience, grapple with these questions, Catherine struggles throughout to be believed not only by Claire and Hal, but by her own self.
It’s easy for a production to be too precious with such a famously loaded and beautiful script.
Director Sara Jones has artfully avoided that trap, by allowing her cast to simply exist and converse on a simple back porch. The simplicity of the staging quietly places the conversations and relationships front and center.
Each member of the four person ensemble brings a distinct energy to the stage, attracting and repelling each other in turn as we learn the truth at the heart of the mystery without a murderer. As Claire, Lynn provides a much needed center of gravity for Barrett’s Catherine; Beckman’s Hal both ignites and quenches the fire between the sisters in turn. In a second half flashback, Bloomingdale’s Robert clearly establishes the origin of Catherine’s discontent by starkly contrasting the Robert she lived with for five years with the Robert on display for Hal and Claire in fleeting moments of lucidity.
In the end, Hal and Catherine reach a détente as to the significance and origin of the work in question... but we are left with a bigger, indelible problem to solve: Why did it take him so long to believe her?
Proof continues at Allen Contemporary Theatre through September 3rd. Tickets can be purchased at allencontemporarytheatre.net
Audience Rating: PG13 - language
Run Time: 2 hours 15 minutes, including a 15 minute intermission
Accessible Seating: Available
Hearing Devices: Not Available
Sensory Friendly Performance: Not Available
Production Sound Level: Comfortable Volume
Noises or Visuals to Prepare For: None of Note
Cheers,
Jenny
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