‘Annapurna’: Scenes from a long-ago marriage

ESTRANGED EX-SPOUSES: Ulysses (Nick Offerman) & ex-wife Emma (Megan Mullally) in Sharr White’s ‘Annapurna.’ Photo: Monique Carboni

ANNAPURNA
Written by Sharr White
Directed by Bart DeLorenzo
Through June 1, 2014
The New Group at Theatre Row
Acorn Theatre
410 West 42nd Street, www.newgroup.org

By Scott Harrah

Just how much are we willing to forgive someone who has damaged us, either emotionally or physically, when we learn he or she is dying?  Or confront a person, face to face, so he/she understands the complexity and magnitude of an unspeakable act of violence years later? These heavy questions are posed in Sharr White’s dark, provocative new one act, starring real-life husband and wife Megan Mullally (“Will & Grace”) and Nick Offerman (of “Parks and Recreation” fame).

Annapurna is something of a departure for playwright Sharr White, author of such recent Broadway dramas as The Snow Geese and The Other Place, two tales set in upper-class surroundings. The narrative and structure are also superior to his earlier efforts, and the characters and dialogue more emotionally formidable and true to life. Here, everything takes place in a ramshackle, one-room trailer (brilliantly designed by Thomas A. Walsh) in rural Paonia, Colorado, with a view of the Rockies.  Ulysses (Mr. Offerman) is a not-so-successful poet and former college professor, hooked up to an oxygen tank because he’s suffering from emphysema and lung cancer, living his final days in squalor with a smelly old dog. His ex-wife, Emma (Ms. Mullally) returns, suitcase and money in hand, for a visit 20 years after she and their son left him. It is the reason why she’s back that is the mystery for the rest of the show, as Emma cleans her ex-husband’s filthy trailer, buys groceries and talks vaguely about the wreckage of their failed marriage and what happened to their son (now in his 20s) when he was five years old.

Anyone expecting to see Ms. Mullally do a variation of her Karen Walker character from “Will & Grace” will be disappointed because, although she maintains some of that iconic TV character’s whiny intonations, nothing here is amusing enough to call this a comedy. Granted, Emma and Ulysses indulge in some awkward repartee in the opening scenes of the play, when Ulysses walks around nearly naked and asks his ex-wife what she’s doing in Paonia, the “ass-crack of the Rockies”. In the first third of the play, even when Ms. Mullally’s character shouts, there are traces of the high-pitched, lilting “Karen Walker” voice, but it soon fades.  As the story progresses and the twists get bleaker and more solemn, the acting from both Ms. Mullally and Mr. Offerman is consistently first rate.

Annapurna is a somewhat depressing 95 minutes, but it is thoroughly engrossing and there is dynamic raillery and tension between Emma and Ulysses.  There are shades of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in the many excoriating arguments and banter between the two exes, and the volatile love-hate relationship they still have, but Mr. White’s dialogue is never rhythmic or symbolic. After all, Ulysses is supposed to be a cowboy at heart, and Emma has been living humbly after a bad marriage back East.

Mr. White’s script is full of talk about love, death and hate, but the dialogue and revelations never delve into the maudlin.  Director Bart DeLorenzo has little to do here, because the onstage chemistry between Mr. Offerman and Ms. Mullally is so natural and palpable.  Since both portrayals are so solid, we easily overlook any shortcomings in the narrative.  There is an especially haunting sincerity in Mr. Offerman’s understated but powerful performance, perhaps due to the fact that the two are married in real life, thus enhancing the energy they share here.

CLEANING THE DEBRIS OF A FAILED MARRIAGE: Nick Offerman as Ulysses & Megan Mullally as Emma in Sharr White’s ‘Annapurna.’ Photo: Monique Carboni

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 21, 2014
Reviewed at press performance April 20, 2014