REVIEW: One-Woman Show The Best Medicine Delivers Empathy, Comedy, And A Whole Lot Of Depth
Through 08/17 @ Bard College in Great Barrington, MA
Photos by Lauren Jacobbe
“[Caroline] Aaron makes a meal out of this fascinating deep dive into finding life’s meaning in the measure of love’s capacity to heal both the giver and the receiver.”
Great Barrington Public Theatre has a laugh out loud, deeply meditative and searching exploration of life’s shared journey with the one-woman show, The Best Medicine, by Robin Gerber. The show is directed by Matthew Penn, stars Caroline Aaron, and is currently playing through 8/17 at Daniel Art Center at Bard College at Simon’s Rock.
Aaron hustles on from stage left with a slight limp and in her inimitable husky tone warns us to turn off our cell phones as she moves two large rolling pieces of luggage. The stage is set with a hodgepodge of backstage props and furniture with two rolling, brick-faced walls upstage. There is a microphone downstage center and we are prepared for a showbiz story of determination.
Aaron is an athlete of the stage as she reels out Rachel’s story at a steady clip with nary a word bobble of this fiercely independent New York woman who tries many jobs, including lawyer, while married for 36 years to her husband Tony who has had one career he loved: helping people with intellectual disabilities until the cataclysm arrives: Tony is diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
Suddenly, Rachel is tested and challenged to find the depth and height of her love as she becomes caregiver to her giant of a man. There are long stretches with no laughs as the medical diagnosis and treatment of the story take over and Rachel feels the loss as well so she signs up for a comedy class wanting to bring joy back to her life.
What we are watching is presumably the finished product – the class assignment in all she has learned and developed during class, especially as her teacher has her hone in on the theme of, “I hate caregiving.” Of course, it is more than a thesis and the evening as presented is a very impressive achievement benefitting from many professional artists guiding and shaping its presentation and no night school one-off.
The most moving moment to me is Rachel’s discovery of Tony’s huge sense of empathy when he is working with his charges. “To care about someone who is ‘other,’ who is often called ‘less than,’ as if their life and dreams and sorrows are as important as your own—that is true humanity.”
Aaron, famous for the short cutaway quip on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, makes a meal out of this fascinating deep dive into finding life’s meaning in the measure of love’s capacity to heal both the giver and the receiver. “Together, we can discover that learning about love is the best reason to live.”
The stand-up setting doesn’t always provide the two laughs a page as the Doc, Neil Simon, prescribed for a comic script but it certainly lent Ms. Aaron energy, drive and a witty attack on the story that totally sold me on the striving character.
The Best Medicine is not only laughter but an open-hearted, honest, embrace of who we are and why we’re living.
The Best Medicine presented by Great Barrington Public Theatre is at Bard at Simon’s Rock through 8/17.
