The Roundabout production of Steven Levenson’s The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin, starts after Tom Durnin, played by David Morse (How I Learned to Drive),finishes his five-year jail sentence for financial fraud in a minimal security facility. His jail time left his wife and children homeless and bitter. Now he returns home expecting to resume the life his arrest forced him to give up. He believes he has paid his dues and should be welcomed back to his family. Unfortunately, no one agrees with him.
Needing a place to crash, Durnin shows up on the doorstep of his son James (Christopher Denman). He tells the reluctant 26-year old, ''You lived in my house for eighteen years, I'm asking you for one month.'' Durnin is temporarily working as a barista in a Border’s book store but this is only until he can get back into his former law firm, using any means he can, and manipulation is the driving core of Tom Durnin. Besides contacting James, he aims to reconnect with the rest of his family.
With a hangdog demeanor that can suddenly erupt with hot temper, Morse persuasively evokes the layers of Durnin, cajoling and demanding, gentle and combative, nostalgic yet callous. The only thing he can’t carry off is honesty. He tries to draw James, a damaged, unfocused depressive, into his life, embellishing the young man’s childhood with memories that never were. In a restrained performance by Denman, James retains an emotional distance, remembering his past with a father who was more concerned with work than family, whose crime caused James to leave Yale in disgrace and consequently, lose his direction.
James has remained close to his mother, Karen Brown-Canedy, now divorced and remarried and played by Lisa Emery (The Roundabout’s Distracted) with wiry determination and fierce resentment for her ex-husband. He also finds encouragement in a writing course at the local community college, where he meets Katie Nicholson, (Sarah Goldberg). With her high-pitched, mannered portrayal of Katie, Goldberg manages to evoke the naïve young girl’s insecurity.
The most enlivened performance is given by Rich Sommer (“Mad Men”) as Chris Wyatt, married to Durnin’s estranged daughter, Annie, whom we never see. Durnin urges Chris to help Tom get his job back and also reconnect with his grandchildren. The harried Chris, however, while grateful for his father-in-law’s past help, has no desire to go against his wife. Rejected at all turns, Durnin is uncomprehending and frustrated.
Reflecting the harsh economic environment of 2009, set designer Beowulf Boritt created a somber ambiance in James’ low-rent home in a desolate part of town. Donald Holden’s lighting and costumes by Jeff Mahshie add to the shabbiness.
While stressing the nuances in Levenson's well-developed characters performed by a sensitive ensemble, director Scott Ellis keeps an uncluttered momentum. The play, however, grows monotonous with its aura of depression. While Durnin’s closing monologue is stirring, it fails to tie up the ends. The real drama in Unavoidable Disappearance is the palpable moments between James and Tom, but their journey is less than compelling. Has Tom Durnin learned anything from his incarceration? Maybe he honed his con-man skills but not much more.
