About halfway through “Homeland Prayer,” currently playing at the Pear Avenue Theatre, I began to feel that watching this heart-wrenching drama of war and grief was a wholly incongruous way to spend a summer day.
With the sun blazing outside on a Sunday afternoon, the Pear’s theater space had grown toasty warm (the air conditioner is too loud to run during performances), and the discomfort of the heat, coupled with the generally heavy tone of the production, made me wish for some lighter fare just then.
But soon the feeling passed. After all, I realized, the families of fallen or wounded soldiers don’t have the luxury of choosing the time or place of their suffering.
“Homeland Prayer” is effective precisely because its themes are so timely. The play tells the story of a Midwestern family pushed to the brink by the return of their severely wounded son from the Iraq war. This story is not about the soldier’s experience but rather focuses on the drama that plays out as family members confront each other — and themselves — in the face of terrible loss amidst a controversial war.
As each of the soldier’s family members — mother, father, sister and wife — grapple with their grief, doubt and guilt, complex family dynamics play out, and the past (as is expected) rears its ugly head. In this play, acting is all. Events transpire mainly in the confines of the family farm’s kitchen, so the restrictions on the setting and tiny increments of the plot’s forward movement make the performances all the more important.
The central character is played by Bill C. Jones as the patriarch Darden. His is arguably the most nuanced character, and his powerful performance does justice to playwright Jeff Carter’s writing. Jones is haunted, funny, cynical and violently angry. He is easily the most likable character, in large part because he feels familiar. Underlying all of his words and actions is an anger that builds and finally climaxes in one of the play’s best scenes. Jones’ performance alone is worth a viewing of “Homeland Prayer.”
Mary Moore, as his wife Lynn, puts in a solid performance as a mother refusing to believe in anything but the best outcome. My primary complaint here would be less with Moore’s performance and more with the writing itself. I wondered at certain junctures how much time Carter — who is building some major traction as a significant American playwright — had actually spent in the Midwest.
For instance, I don’t think Midwestern moms spend as much time cajoling their family members to eat donuts and drink coffee in times of hardship as this one does. The obsession with eating food and getting rest and fetching coffee as a balm for the spirit went way too far.
I’m also not sure that being a person of devout Christian faith necessarily implies that one lives in denial or refuses to see the complexity of war. The character of Lynn would have been more interesting had she seemed less like our stereotype of a Midwestern Christian mother and more like a typical person struggling to make sense of things. It didn’t surprise me much to learn that Carter — who won the prestigious John Gassner Memorial Award in 2007 for “Homeland Prayer” — hails from the Bay Area.
Even so, we Americans don’t see much real footage from the Iraq war on television, and we rarely, if ever, see a dead or wounded soldier. Missing too from our national discourse are the voices of those who have lost their family and their friends. If “Homeland Prayer” is the only type of remedy to this blatant cultural amnesia, then it’s better — much, much better — than nothing at all.
INFORMATION:
What: The Pear Avenue Theatre presents “Homeland Prayer” by Jeff Carter
When: Thursdays to Saturdays 8 p.m., Sundays 2 p.m., through July 13
Where: The Pear Avenue Theatre, 1220 Pear Avenue, Unit K, Mountain View
Cost: Seniors and students $20; general $25
Info: Visit www.thepear.org or call (650) 254-1148
