Fall New York Theatre Tour V

Mauritius, Theresa Rebeck's fascinating mystery/drama that makes stamp collecting exciting, was one of my favorite shows this fall.

Rebeck, who also wrote the 9/11 - as - apocalypse play, Omnium Gatherum, - one I would love to do at The Playhouse, has crafted a compelling piece that is often hilarious, but always engaging and suspenseful.

Two estranged sisters come together on the occasion of their mother's death, and discover rare(very rare) stamps in a family collection. Three stamp collectors want the stamps and the play centers on the struggle for possession of these stamps.

The characters played by Bobby Cannavale("Will and Grace," "Oz,"); Dylan Baker(Spiderman); F. Murray Abraham(Salieri in "Amadeus"); have an unnatural lust for these stamps, mostly criminally-based, and spend a great deal of the play on the edge of violence, while plotting various schemes to gain possession of them.

The two sisters have some bad blood, and are struggling over who rightfully owns the stamps.
The character played by Alison Pill (The Lieutenant of Inishmore) remained with her parents until their deaths, and endured some unspoken and protracted family terrors, while Kate Finneran's character(the older sister) left town at the first opportunity and never looked back. Each feels the stamps belong to her. Alison Pill has the ability to show a dangerous build up of frustration and world-weariness that is compelling. Kate Finneran manages to create the most unlikeable character I've seen on stage in a long time.

Abraham and Cannavale, as an apparent mob boss and his assistant, get a little carried away with the fun of their gangster caricatures, but it is entertaining to watch. Dylan Baker, as the legitimate (we're led to believe) stamp dealer, creates a measured, right-on performance.


The writing is precise and masterful. Rebek never tells us how much the stamps are worth, or what terrible thing happened in the sisters' family - we don't need to know, and having that knowledge would be satisfying in the wrong way.

Although the language is a little more than we are used to in Des Moines, it's a wonderful play, and I hope that we can consider it for production in the next few years.