THE title character of “Grace,” starring Lynn Redgrave, is a science professor who has little use for God. Lecturing on natural selection, she dismisses the notion of a divine creator as “bollocks, complete and utter bollocks!”
So it comes as no small shock when Grace’s lawyer son (Oscar Isaac) announces he’s planning on becoming a priest.
The ensuing conflict between mother and son forms the heart of the play that opened here last night, following its run in London. Co-written by Mick Gordon and AC Grayling, a philosophy professor making his playwriting debut, it doesn’t manage to translate its intellectual arguments into compelling theater.
Actually, its arguments aren’t all that compelling, either. Grace, who refuses to call herself an atheist – she prefers the term “naturalist” – is more strident than persuasive, and the son never provides a convincing reason for his sudden conversion.
The play’s other characters – Grace’s husband (Philip Goodwin), a secular Jew, and the son’s pregnant fiancée (K.K. Moggie) – serve mainly as sounding boards.
Not helping matters is the drama’s confusing, time-shifting chronology and needless stylistic trickery (clued in by a reference to the movie “The Sixth Sense”). The playwrights also stack the deck with a melodramatic plot development that’s all too ironic.
Still, the evening has its affecting moments, thanks largely to appealing performances by the supporting cast and Redgrave’s fiercely powerful turn in the title role. Their fine work makes the missed opportunity of the evening’s provocative subject matter all the more frustrating.
GRACE
Lucille Lortel Theatre, 121 Christopher St., at Hudson Street; (212) 279-4200. Through March 8.