Joanna McClelland Glass's "Trying" pairs a crotchety old man with a spunky young woman in an odd-couple relationship.
Joanna McClelland Glass’s “Trying” pairs a crotchety old man with a spunky young woman in an odd-couple relationship that doesn’t have any hope of lasting, but… you’ll never guess what! Barriers erode as the two find common ground for a warm mutual affection to grow.
New Jersey theater-goers have seen the same tale unfold recently in Hoboken with Mile Square’s “Driving Miss Daisy” and “The Net Will Appear.”
For George Street Playhouse regulars, the story might call to mind John Logan’s “Red” or in an only slightly different vein, “Daddy Long Legs.” Pixar has crafted this familiar mold into “Up” and “Despicable Me.” The icy veneer of an old crank gradually melted away by the resilient charm of a stranger? Familiar.
Glass’s play clings eagerly to this paradigm, more interested in telling a particular story than in any sort of dramatic or theatrical inventiveness, making for a long, tedious evening.
Glass’s tale is autobiographical: As a young woman, she took a job as secretary to an aging Francis Biddle, attorney general under Roosevelt, and later chief judge of the military tribunal at Nuremberg.
A two-hander, “Trying” opens as Sarah (Carly Zien), the fictionalized Glass, meets Biddle (Philip Goodwin) on her first day of work. Long retired from any official duties, Biddle remains busy with correspondence and the writing of his memoir, all while his health precipitously wanes.
Sarah quickly learns that being an effective secretary means managing the mercurial grumpiness and failing mental capacities of her boss while not insulting his lingering sense of dignity. Of course she manages to get that done, and as the play progresses the two develop a warm mutual respect and functional working relationship en route to a predictable enough conclusion.
What we are to take from this story along the way remains unclear. Biddle recounts much of his illustrious career and blueblood family history in long speeches, while conflicts in Sarah’s life, like troubles with her marriage and goals, arise and dissipate without affecting much of anything. Glass’s point seems to be that this unique pairing finds strength in the unlikely ally of each other. Fair enough, but such pat moralism struggles to sustain the play’s two-and-a-half-hours.
Together with director Jim Jack, Zien and Goodwin bring these thinly drawn characters to life well enough, but the relationship between the two does not evolve as much as it shifts abruptly. Towards the end of the opening act, Sarah finally speaks up for herself against Biddle’s gruff badgering, at which point the wide-eyed judge backs down, surprised by his sudden respect for a secretary he had heretofore considered so disposable. From then on out, the play seems an episodic exploration of an aging judge, offering little to surprise or compel.
“Trying” is clearly a deeply personal story of an important time in this playwright’s life, but something is lost in translating that importance to George Street’s audience. Instead of a moving story of human warmth that this play strives to be, we find a familiar paradigm flatly recycled.
TRYING
George Street Playhouse
Running through April 8
103 College Farm Road, New Brunswick
Tickets online GSPonline.org or by phone (732) 246-7717.
Patrick Maley may be reached at patrickjmaley@gmail.com. Find him on Twitter and Instagram @PatrickJMaley. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook.