My Own Take: Off Broadway's "We Had a World" with Joanna Gleason

The show: The Manhattan Theatre Club production of “We Had a World” by Joshua Harmon and starring Joanna Gleason

What makes it special?: For Connecticut theater fans, Joanna Gleason is a longtime Westport resident (she’s married to Chris Sarandon). It’s also a new play by Harmon, a terrific writer who wrote the stunning Tony Award-nominated “Prayer for a French Republic'“ and the biting off-Broadway comedy “Bad Jews” (which had a production at Long Wharf’s Stage !! years ago). Here he continues with another insightful look at a Jewish family dynamic.

Which is…? Frought. Very frought. And funny. Very funny. But shockingly authentic and it will stir flashes of instant recognition for others, too, Jewish or not. It’s also deeply personal. It’s not the first time that Harmon has tapped in to his own family for inspiration, if not direct material — as well as his own life. (See “Significant Other.”)

In what way does he do it here?: For one, the narrator is named Joshua and he is a playwright. And at the end of the play, there’s a recording of his real grandmother that echoes the grandmother he creates in the play. This gives the audience the sense that he truly knows from whence he speaks.

What’s it about?: Joshua (Feldman) is summoned to his grandmother’s apartment. She is dying and asks him to write a play about their family —and she wants it to be bitter and vicious.

Oh, really?: Oh, yes. This is not some nostalgic “Brighton Beach Memories.” Yes, there’s sentiment and love and humor but, as he says in his direct address to the audience: “There is no straight line to tell this story…it’s confusing,”

But that’s the point: Of thinking you know someone, even someone you’ve known all your life, and yet you really don’t —and perhaps can never know. But over time you try to put it together in bits and pieces until you create a kind of a whole.

The play, which covers 30 years in Joshua’s life, jumps around the many periods in the family’s relationships and back stories. His relationship with his grandmother Renee (Gleason) when he was growing up is decidedly different than the one his mother Ellen had with her when she was growing up — and still continues to have which is terrible. Renee, a sophisticated New Yorker brought Joshua to a wide variety of cultural events — some of them not exactly age-appropriate (such as an exhibition of Robert Mapplethorpe’s erotic photographs. (“I was only nine. I didn’t yet grasp the concept of fisting.’) But she also brought him to a wide spectrum of plays. “I became a playwright because of her,” he says.

But we soon know why the relationship between mother and daughter is so tense, brittle, unreasonable and often just mean. (Renee has a title for the play she wants Joshua to write: “Battle of the Titans” and it doesn’t take long to discover who the two titans are.)

Renee is an alcoholic. Her emotionally damaged daughter Ellen (Serralles) told her when Joshua was born: “If you want a relationship with your grandson, you are never to drink in front of him. Ever.” Renee sticks to her promise — until Joshua turns 15 and she arrives drunk at one of his school plays. That’s when his mother opens up about his grandmother, whom he idolizes. Ellen also shares with him stories of the nightmare of a childhood she had with her mother. and the strained relationship Ellen has with her sister.

It’s been a bit of an emotional roller coaster over the years in which the play depicts: alternating between hope and horror, tense truces and verbal brawls , with Joshua trying to plays peacemaker but increasingly finding himself in the inevitable position to finally choose a side.

The performances are shatteringly authentic with Feldman carrying a heavy load of playing his character from a boy to mid-career playwright. The actor is only 23, but what he brings to his mostly youthful scenes more than makes up for the missing weight a man in his early 40s would have. One could cast a fourth actor as the older Joshua. But it didn’t bother me, mainly because Feldman is so damn good. Serralles takes what could be a largely unsympathetic role and makes her character vulnerable, fierce and understandably human. To create a character that is initially likable and witty, Gleason uses her considerable charm and her command of dry comedy. (Did I say the play is also very funny? It bears repeating. ) But she is fearless in showing Renee’s darker and hardened moments. It’s a character worthy of her return to the stage and she Gleason gives an astonishing performance.

Who will like it?: Fans of Harmon and Gleason. Those drawn to family plays of complexity, especially ones that balance comedy and drama.

Who won’t?: For many, despite the many laughs, this may strike awfully close to home.

For the kids?: Sophisticated kids and teens will identity with the adolescent struggles of family.

Looking into the future?: There are sure to be many more productions of this play at regional theaters: Three characters, a minimalist set and a smart play that centers on family that is both funny, dramatic and wise. Even if it has a weird easily forgettable title.

Yes, That title…?: Not the best, I admit. In the play Joshua is environmentally conscious (rather sketchily presented) and is a young man hoping to live in a better future world that is safe to live . But here recalls a past world that despite all of its glory was also quite toxic.

Thoughts on leaving the parking lot?: It’s my favorite play of the season.

Info: The show at 100 minutes and no intermission is playing at the intimate City Center Stage II of the Manhattan Theater Club .131 W. 55th St. in Manhattan through May 11. Tckets, call 212-581-1212 or visit ManhattanTheatreClub.com