Scarcity

Webster's definition of scarcity is: the quality or state of being scarce; especially : want of provisions for the support of life.

That definition surprisingly sums up Scarcity a haunting and troublesome play about socio economic status and desperation. The playwright, Lucy Thurber goes for the jugular here. No character is deprived of their moment of baseness and/or humiliation.

Who would have thought 3rd Rock from the Sun's Kristen Johnston(Martha) was such an amazing actress. I haven't seen a performance like this in a while. Her Martha was so present, so reactionary, so alive on stage it was hard to keep my eyes off of her. She had a living, breathing character up on stage. I was compelled, which is saying a lot, since I see a lot of theatre. Good actors are ones that listen and react. She should teach classes on that topic alone.

How does a child cope in an environment where they want to leave, but have no role models, no "help"? All they have are two parents struggling to survive, to pay the bills and to cope with their own mistakes. Martha, the mother, says to her 16 y/o son, "Don't make me have to look after you". Absurd yes, but in the context of the play, it's understandable. The mother is exhausted supporting the family, looking after her little girl and enabling her alcoholic husband. Billy, her son, is very smart will have opportunities to break out of her world. He's knows this and is willing to do anything in order to achieve it.

His savior comes in the form of Ellen, a wealthy woman, who moved to the rural part of western Massachusetts to teach because of her "enlightenment" of rural American culture (she did her undergrad at NYU and her MA at Columbia...blah blah blah). Ellen grew up in a world of privilege and never knew people without privilege. She pities Billy's family and is desperate to make a "difference"with her Ivy league education. This family is her first "assignment" and her attraction to Billy, who's sixteen, is more about what he represents than him as a person.

Rachel, Billy's sister, reads tarot cards and reads Jane Austin novels at eleven years old. It seems that both children used the library and their studies to escape the sting of their home life. She wants out too, but mainly because she doesn't want to be alone with her parents.

In the concluding scene when Billy leaves his home and "gets out", he has this moment with his father. The father, Herb, knows that he will probably never see his son again and that his son must leave or end up like him. When Billy walks out of the house it's like Herb's tiny world of disconnect and alcoholism closes in on him to make him even more distant.

Billy got out, Rachel is alone and Martha and Herb keep on doing what they always do, playing cards and drinking. In other words, life goes on, but with one less person.

For me, I had a great night at the theatre!