Steppenwolf Theatre Company is closing its 50th-anniversary season with the Chicago premiere of Mia Chung’s “Catch as Catch Can,” a 105-minute one-act that seems to fit the connotation of its title — making do with what you’ve got — but really is far more intentional.
The most unusual feature of the play, which was originally produced in New York in 2018 and scheduled for a 2020 opening here until it was delayed by the pandemic and other factors, is the structure. Three actors each play two characters, a parent and a child of the opposite sex. They belong to two working-class New England families, and when all six are on stage at the same time, sometimes switching roles at the drop of a line, keeping who’s who straight can be confusing. The hilarity peaks during preparations for a Christmas dinner, when crises range from the positioning of gilt picture frames to the fate of 96 burned rolls.
Not surprisingly, Steppenwolf has assembled a cracker-jack all-ensemble cast under ensemble member Amy Morton’s steady, sensitive direction. Gary Cole, returning to the company’s stage for the first time in 25 years, plays 60-something Italian American Roberta Lavecchia, who’s interested in astrology and has a racist streak, and her mid-40s son Robbie, who’s living at home after getting a divorce from his Korean-born wife, Cindy. Audrey Francis is both Roberta’s husband, Lon, who is ill, and their daughter Daniela, Robbie’s younger sister. Daniela lives nearby, has been dating a nice guy named Sam and is contemplating accepting a big promotion. Tim Hopper does double duty as Roberta’s widowed Irish American neighbor Theresa Phelan and her son, Tim Phelan, who has returned home for the holidays after living in California for 11 years and apparently has told his mom that he’s planning to marry a Korean American woman named Minjung and move back to the Northeast.
Chung ups the ante on potential confusion by having the characters carry on several conversations simultaneously, so the audience frequently has to puzzle out what they’re talking about. In the opening scene, for example, Roberta and Theresa are sitting at Roberta’s kitchen table drinking tea and gossiping. They begin with Britain’s royal family because Theresa is contemplating a trip across the pond, but the subject soon segues to their individual extended families and then their children and their children’s romantic lives. In another remarkable scene, Theresa and Tim carry on a conversation using only shifts in vocal tone and a bit of body language, but in truth they’re speaking at cross-purposes and not really communicating with each other.
Though it isn’t too difficult to figure out what Chung is doing, I found myself wondering why. Sure, the cross-gender, cross-generational double casting is a challenge for the talented actors, and maybe even lots of fun, but is there some greater purpose?
I’m not sure I have an answer, but as the play’s tone darkens and it turns out that many things aren’t what they seem to be, themes about the nature and mutability of identity emerge, and Chung’s format somehow gives them shape. She also shows how the parents’ shortcomings are reflected in their adult children and immerses us in aspects of mental illness, including what it is like to have a breakdown.
Maybe these goals could have been achieved in a way that didn’t seem so much like experimental theater or an elaborate acting exercise, but I’m willing to give Chung the benefit of the doubt. Anyway, with such a top-notch cast and thoroughly professional staging, you should definitely catch “Catch as Catch Can” if you can.
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