COST OF LIVING at the Manhattan Theater Club, NY City Center Stage 1

From now on, I’ll be looking out for any play by the award-winning playwright, MARTYNA MAJOK. Cost of Living is about people who need each other to survive, but fight it. She knows how to develop characters so that when the wham of the climax comes, you realize how it had bee subtly prepared for.

JOLLY ABRAHAM (Jess) a Princeton graduate who fell on hard times, has to work in bars at night and take care of a John (GREGG MOZGALA) who has cerebral palsy as he does in real life. Eddie (VICTOR WILLIAMS), struggling with poverty and staying sober. has a wife, Ani (KATY SULLIVAN) whose spinal cord was damaged in an accident. Like Gregg, Katy’s disability is real. At curtain call, you can see she walks on prostheses. How these characters manage their lives, and don’t, is a parable for all of us. And Majok  knows how to develop character, seeing the clues to how they will respond

KATY SULLIVAN is an actress I want to see again and again. Every expression, even snide jeer, every line delivered was perfection. There is a scene with her in a bathtub that moved me as much as Jaques-Louis David’s painting, The Death of Marat.

There isn’t a moment when you doze. Bravos and even shouted thank yous filled the theater along with the sweet din of applause.

COST OF LIVING

MANHATTAN THEATER CLUB/ NEW YORK CITY CENTER STAGE

for schedule and tickets go to:

http://costoflivingplay.com/