Typhoid Mary by Mark St. Germain Launches Barrington Season

The sobriquet Typhoid Mary has endured as the concept of an individual who willfully or by fate is the source of spreading an epidemic.

In a compelling play by Mark St. Germain, in a theatre that bears his name, the sordid tale of the real Typhoid Mary, Mary Mallon (1869-1938), played with conviction by Tasha Lawrence, unfolds in two acts with a running time of some 90 minutes.

This is a revival of a 1991 play that has been tweaked by the playwright. Staging it again is a commentary on anti-science, fundamentalism and ignorance that pervades our socially and politically divided nation. Like the protagonist, who had no truck with science, medicine and its gibberish, parents refuse to inoculate their children with vaccines. In some cases they have all but eliminated devastating diseases. Such reactionary ignorance evokes key cabinet positions in the current federal government.

In a manner which we have come to expect of historical plays by St. Germain we learn a lot about the disease, its devastation, and efforts to cure and contain it.

To read the full review, please visit BerkshireFineArts.com !

Review of The Grönholm Method at the Menier Chocolate Factory

Job interviews are horrible. It doesn’t matter how many you have been through, they are always terrifying, And these days, the higher the position, the more difficult the interview process. Of course, the important thing is how much do you want the job? And this is where the ultimate interview comes in, which is the subject of Jordi Galceran’s play – translated by Anne García-Romero and Mark St. Germain – The Grönholm Method at the Menier Chocolate Factory.

Jordi Galceran has written a fascinating story…that brings the recruitment and interview processes used by some firms sharply into focus. I’ve been through psychometric testing, preparing and giving presentations, assessment days, group discussions, telephone, panel, structured, unstructured, competency based, etc in my time and The Grönholm Method (it’s a made up name) is just taking interview techniques to a new level. However, the quality of the writing is not only the method but the twists and turns, of which there are an amazing amount for a 90-minute show, that leave you wondering who exactly is who and is anyone who or what they claim to be?

This is a fascinating play that I found utterly riveting from start to finish.

To read the full review, please visit LondonTheatre1.com 

Review: Season opens at Barrington Stage

Mark St. Germain, who previously has had eight of his plays produced by Barrington Stage Company, is back at the Pittsfield theater with “Typhoid Mary,” a revision of what was called “Forgiving Typhoid Mary” for its New York City-area premiere in 1991 and later had the title “A Plague of Angels.” The latest title is the most apt: It better reflects the play’s neutral stance as it explores the life and mystifying behavior of Mary Mallon, an Irish-born cook who, as a carrier of the eponymous bacterial illness, sickened scores of people, some of whom died, in the first 15 years of the 20th century in metropolitan New York.

When the play opens, Mary is confined to a cottage on an East River island near the Bronx that is home to a hospital for those with infectious diseases. It’s 1909, almost a decade after Mary first sickened a family, but it took authorities years to locate and isolate her. Now she’s suing to be released as three people — a middle-aged male hospital administrator, a young female doctor and a young Catholic priest — battle for her future and her soul.

Seen from today’s perspective, Mary’s actions seem appallingly irresponsible and probably criminal; even if she doesn’t understand what was then, 30 years after Louis Pasteur’s pioneering work with vaccines, commonly accepted in the scientific and medical communities, she has to acknowledge the illness and death in her wake. But she refuses, much like some parents of today’s America, who threaten the health and lives of whole communities with their unwillingness to have their children vaccinated…St. Germain’s taut, compelling dialogue and distinctively hewn characters satisfy theatrically and intellectually.

To read the article in full, visit TimesUnion.com !

 

The Grönholm Method review: Sharply amusing and a little scary

 

IS it a reality show? Is it a psychological experiment? No, it’s a job interview. In fact, Jordi Galceran’s clever play incorporates all these elements as he puts four candidates through a Kafkaesque selection process for a post in a Fortune 500 company.

Written in 2003, this Catalan play has been translated into 20 languages and performed in more than 60 countries.

The secret of its success is its universality.

Read the full article on Express.co.uk