Some consider Will Eno the Beckett of American suburbia. Others find him simply maddening.
From “Thom Pain (based on nothing)” to “Title and Deed,” the playwright’s deadpan tone, lack of conventional plot and finicky attention to language have driven hordes of theatergoers crazy with boredom.
Yet just as many find those traits fascinating — which is probably why Toni Collette, Michael C. Hall, Marisa Tomei and Tracy Letts are starring in Eno’s “The Realistic Joneses” on Broadway next month.
In the meantime, the smaller “The Open House” isn’t going to change anybody’s mind.
Directed by Oliver Butler, this surreal comedy takes a sudden left turn halfway through and considerably perks up.
Until it does, though, it’s slow-drip torture during a hellish family reunion in which the father (Peter Friedman) viciously taunts the others from his wheelchair. “We should go out for a nice dinner,” he tells the mother (Carolyn McCormick). “Just the two of us. Or, just me.”
Nobody talks back. Daughter (Hannah Bos) and son (Danny McCarthy) sit mildly on the couch. An uncle (Michael Countryman) lurks in the back.
Oddball exchanges abound. “Did you come straight from the airport?” the mother asks the daughter, who answers, “I drove here. It’s a half-hour away.”
This unsettling atmosphere only clears with the arrival of the brisk, bubbly Anna (Bos again), a real estate agent hired to sell the house.
A potential buyer, Brian (Countryman), and a contractor, Tom (McCarthy), are equally nice. The newcomers all feel like positive versions of the previous characters.
And they don’t let the father get a word in edgewise — their good nature smothers him. In an amazing actorly turn, Friedman, who never leaves the wheelchair, now looks as if he’s aged 10 years.
What does this all mean? That the nuclear family can be reconfigured via kindness? Who knows.
Whether you like him or not, there’s nobody like Will Eno.