THE HANGOVER REPORT – Sam Shepard’s unfocused CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS receives a ferocious revival

Maggie Siff and Gilles Geary in Sam Shepard's "Curse of the Starving Class" at the Signature Theatre Company. Photo by Joan Marcus.

Maggie Siff and Gilles Geary in Sam Shepard’s “Curse of the Starving Class” at the Signature Theatre Company. Photo by Joan Marcus.

Last night, Signature Theatre Company’s Off-Broadway revival of Sam Shepard’s rarely-performed three-act play Curse of the Starving Class opened at the Pershing Square Signature Center. This is the second major revival of one of the late, great playwright’s works this season (If you didn’t know, Mr. Shepard passed away in 2017), following Roundabout Theatre Company’s solid if somewhat tepid Main Stem revival of the seminal True West earlier this winter. Curse of the Starving Class depicts the tragic but darkly comic disintegration of a Texan family – the Tates – despite each family member’s efforts to improve their dire situation.

I have mixed feelings about the play, which to me feels unfocused, complete with bewilderingly random flights of fancy and meandering tangents. Indeed, Curse of the Starving Class is an unruly combination of raw poetry, dark comedy, and conventional kitchen sink drama. However, there are stretches of visceral theater, which make for undeniably compelling viewing. The play is at its best when it’s portraying its characters at emotional extremities; witnessing the Tates crash-and-burn is quite the spectacle (and remains a potent allegory for the state of our nation), and I would argue that it’s worth sitting through the play’s unsteady exposition to experience.

Luckily, director Terry Kinney, who is intimately familiar with Mr. Shepard’s aesthetic, balances the tricky tone of Curse of the Starving Class compellingly, which is a relief given the lopsided nature of the piece. The play requires a hefty commitment, especially for the first two acts, which for this Signature revival have been effectively combined into a single act (this makes for quite a lengthy “first” act though). As a result, the third and final act seems a bit rushed and eager to bring the story to its conclusion. Nevertheless, the cast is excellent, fearlessly handling the text’s demanding ricocheting between absurdity and intense – often ferociously violent – realism.

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CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS
Off-Broadway
Signature Theatre Company
2 hours, 30 minutes (with one intermission)
Through June 2

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

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