“A Very Common Procedure”
Lucille Lortell Theater located at 121 Christopher Street
“A Very Common Procedure,” written by Courtney Baron, is a heart-wrenching play with a theme that is universal, has attention commanding dialogue, and three fine actors who give their characters enough dimension so that we pity and empathize with them. It is directed briskly, with an excellent sense of pace, by Michael Greif
Carolyn and Michael Goldenhersberg, (Lynn Collins) and (Stephen Kunken) have lost a premature baby due to a misstep by Dr. Anil Patel (Amir Arison) an inexperienced pediatrician surgeon who was supervised by during the procedure by a more experienced senior practitioner. . The loss of the baby is devastating to the Goldenhersches. We can see the depth of their despair from contrasting flashbacks where the couple reveled in their anticipation of being parents, announcing their joy to their families and friends.
After the death both mourn, but Carolyn can find no peace. Haunted by the idea that somehow she was responsible for the child’s death, she withdraws from her needy, grieving husband and becomes involved sexually with Dr Patel who is an American born Indian. She has taken up the idea that getting him to tell her about himself and getting emotionally and physically will help her to understand her child’s death. Her need to be with him becomes an obsession. She sets about to seduce him. The doctor is loath to get involved with her, but she throws herself at him and he cannot help but respond to her terrible anguish and her pale blonde good looks so different from the women of his own culture.
Carolyn still loves her husband and doesn’t want to leave him, but she cannot bear to hold him close, comfort him or be intimate with him. She thinks that he too shares in her guilt for not being careful enough of the baby’s well being. Of course, Michael finds out about her affair with the doctor and an achingly painful scene is played out in Patel’s office. For Carolyn there is no solution or resolution even though both men shower her with love and comfort. She is a soul lost in the hell of self-blame and no one can offer her peace. She still loves Michael, but she cannot abide his presence. She is like one of benighted mournful lovers who inhabit the first ring of Dante’s “Inferno” who are forever tossed about by the wind trying to reach the loved one, but with no success.
As I watched this play, I was touched and sad and full of pity for all the characters, even the earnest doctor whose life was so empty and lonely when he was not at work. I did not find this play in the least boring, even when the actors used the device of speaking directly to the audience. Mastering of the breaking of the fourth wall without being tedious or distancing the audience from the drama of the play takes a highly accomplished playwright.
However, though I thoroughly enjoyed the play and found the actors totally convincing, after it was over and I started to think about it, I realized that the story didn’t quite make sense. I put myself in the place of the middle class, well-educated parents, and I couldn’t believe that they would put their baby in the hands of a doctor who had only performed the necessary procedure five times. It was inconceivable that they would not demand the most experienced doctor on the staff and if that he or she were not available they would immediately take the baby by ambulance to another hospital.
That flaw in the plotting of the drama, somewhat eroded my pleasure in seeing it. Plotting is hard work, but for a realist play, which “Procedure” is, to become a completely convincing masterwork, it must be painstakingly thought out. The playwright cannot rely on shortcuts like untenable actions to manufacture his drama.
That being said, I would still recommend a visit to “A Very Common Procedure,” even with its imperfect storyline, because it has excellent writing and right on the money direction, both of which make for a totally enjoyable theatrical experience
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