Deanna Jent’s Falling is a strange play-- acting out the actualities of a family with a 300 pound, 18-year-old son with an IQ of about 9, and the behavior and seeming mind of an angry three year old (Daniel Everidge in a powerful performance), and his effect on his parents (Julia Murney and Daniel Pearce) and sister (Jacey Powers). There is a false premise to the play: that any sane person would have a physically dangerous monster (he physically attacks his mother, and later his elderly grandmother (Celia Howard)) living at home.
All of the acting is terrific -- full, convincing performances under the apt direction of Lori Adams, on a fine, detailed set by John C, Stark, with expert lighting by Julie Mack. But the shenanigans of the son are painful to watch, and when he almost strangles his mother, it becomes absurd. To have a huge, dangerous maniac living at home is idiotic. The parents need psychotherapy — to work on whatever their guilt is that they put themselves in deadly harm’s way. When the teenage sister says, “Lock him up!”, I had to restrain myself from applauding. If I weren’t reviewing the show, I would have.
After an hour, Josh, the son, is mentioned as autistic, but the main problem is his minuscule intelligence. The autism may cause his outbursts and be the danger, but his arrested development is the basis of most of the problem.
Near the end the mother has a hallucination -- a fantasy sequence of Josh’s death, and re-appearance as a Social Services worker. Wicked weird. So — It’s quite theatrical, well done in all departments, but uncomfortable as it defies logic and keeps the danger in the house.
