Reiter's performance evolves from smoldering to outright fiery over the course of this tightly paced narrative. Zacek's direction propels the show in a slow, burning crescendo. And, when a pair of unseen and unheard Evangelists comes to call, her reaction to them isn't unlike the righteous fury a bereaved parent might express when told they should be joyous because God now has one more angel in Heaven. What Mary lacks in Tóibín's drama is any patience whatsoever with the men who have co-opted her story for the good of mankind. Informed that her son died to save the world, Mary's howling, anguished response is one that will stay with you long after the curtain comes down. 'I was there,' she reminds her visitors witheringly. Schooled on the particulars of Jesus' conception as they are laid out in the Bible, Mary displays a mix of disbelief and exasperation. Directed by Dennis Zacek, the Victory Gardens production reveals a complicated woman, prickly, outspoken, long past child-bearing years, and still reeling with inconsolable grief and rage over the death of her beloved son. All that changes in The Testament of Mary. Look at any artist's rendering of her and you'll see a wondrous example of youth, innocence, (literally) glowing maternity, and unquestioning obedience. It is also a gripping piece of storytelling.Īs brands go, the Virgin Mary is one of the world's most ancient and powerful: A serene, saintly Madonna, a luminous and beatific presence draped in baby blue and surrounded by a gently golden aura. The Midwest premiere of Tóibín's riveting 90-minute drama offers a crucially important counterbalance to millennia of patriarchal dominance and male perspective. Deeply subversive and wholly intriguing, playwright Colm Tóibín's solo play The Testament of Mary is a tour de force for actor Linda Reiter and a radical, welcome rethinking of one of the planet's most iconic figures and the world's most historically influential books.

The testament of mary broadway