After eight years of writing about Chicago theater, I’m always excited to discover new, or new to me, companies in this city of 200-plus theaters. It’s even better when the show is as excellent as “Anatomy of a Suicide,” now playing at Redtwist Theatre’s Edgewater venue in a coproduction by the Metal Shop Performance Lab (founded in 2019) and JunkHeart (a new collective). In this revival of British playwright Alice Birch’s 2017 drama, director Alex Mallory’s cast rises to the challenge of a technically demanding script without losing hold of its emotional core. Their stellar performances exemplify Chicago storefront theater at its finest.
Three timelines play out simultaneously in Birch’s play, which traces the effects of mental illness through the matrilineage of a single family. Anchoring the 10-person cast are Tatiana Pavela as Carol, Taigé Lauren as Carol’s daughter, Anna, and Isabel Lee Roden as Anna’s daughter, Bonnie. When we first meet Carol in the 1960s, the young married woman has just survived a suicide attempt and wears a hospital gown with bandages on her wrists (costumes by Kat Poon). Anna’s introduction also occurs in a hospital, where she’s recovering from an overdose. With Bonnie, the roles are reversed — she’s a doctor working in an emergency room but carries generational scars beneath her stoic demeanor.
For the bulk of the play, Birch overlays two or three scenes on top of each other, requiring the actors to deliver their dialogue with precise timing to capture the repetition and mirroring embedded in the text. From a craft standpoint, it’s certainly an impressive feat, but this structure often prevents the individual viewer from taking in the full nuance of performances happening on opposite ends of Redtwist’s long, narrow stage. That’s really the only downside to this production; with an ensemble this strong, you don’t want to miss a beat.
Though it deals with heavy topics, including substance addiction, postpartum depression and electroconvulsive therapy, “Anatomy of a Suicide” finds enough moments of beauty and hope that the darkness doesn’t always feel inevitable. These glimmers usually come in the form of human connection, such as Carol promising her infant daughter that she’ll try hard to stay with her, Anna sharing a wedding dance with her father (Joshua Razavi) and Bonnie tentatively opening up to a new romantic partner (Allyce C. Torres).
Lauren, a recent DePaul Master of Fine Arts graduate who previously appeared in Shattered Globe Theatre’s “Eelpout,” gives a standout performance as Anna. The middle link in this three-generation chain, Anna comes off as vulnerable but not helpless, fragile but not weak, while her loosening grip on sanity after giving birth surpasses many an Ophelia’s mad scene. Pavela and Roden also deliver convincing and poignant performances in the other principal roles. By the time these three take their bows at curtain call, you want to hug each of their characters and beg them to stay in the world of the living.
Birch’s dialogue is rich in setting and imagery, elements that are subtly enhanced by scenic and lighting designer Daphne Agosin, sound designer Gina Montalvo and props designer Lolo Ramos. In a quiet locale surrounded by plum trees, the family home serves as both a peaceful oasis and a painful reminder of trauma as the house is passed down through the generations. Aquatic imagery flows through the play on a similarly meandering path, tracing salty tracks down a cheek or beckoning as a final means of escape.
“Anatomy of a Suicide” raises difficult questions about determinism and agency as they relate to generational trauma. The personal costs and moral complexities of bringing new life into this world are also at play, culminating in a key decision made by Bonnie toward the end. Again, the show manages to be tragic but not despairing, a delicate balance that’s especially important in any piece of art that addresses mental health. Mallory and team have done a beautiful job of making Birch’s thorny play bloom, and I’d encourage any fan of serious Chicago-style acting to see this production before its limited run ends.
Emily McClanathan is a freelance critic.
Review: “Anatomy of a Suicide” (3.5 stars)
When: Through Aug. 30
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Where: Metal Shop Performance Lab and JunkHeart at Redtwist Theatre, 1044 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.
Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes
Tickets: $20-$30 at TheMetalShop.org