The Manhattan Theatre Club, birthplace of many fine plays, has come up with a doozy this time: Joshua Harmon’s latest comedic memory play, We Had a World. It’s surreal, sublime, and amazingly funny — but it’s also sad, with its characters seemingly stuck in old patterns of behavior with neither the will nor the desire to break out. And it is a triumph of the playwright’s art, and as such must be seen.
Joshua, a young writer (Andrew Barth Feldman) narrates the story of himself, his mother Ellen, a single professional (Jeanine Serralles), and his eccentric grandmother Renee (Joanna Gleason). There has been bad blood between Renee and Ellen for many years. Ellen has resented her mother’s casual disregard for her in favor of her sister, while Renee is the type of person who has a reason why anything is not her fault. Joshua often finds himself in the middle of the two women, and between their conflict, his coming out process, and trying to get his writing career off the ground, he finds himself with barely enough time to have an independent thought. At one point, Renee asks Joshua to write a play about their family, and has only one request: that he make it as nasty and vituperative as possible. (One is left to assume this is the play we’re watching.) Things come to a head when Renee breaks a promise to Ellen about who will be at a Hanukkah seder for which Ellen is providing the food.
The cast, under the sensitive, skillful direction of Trip Cullman, is outstanding. Gleason is at the peak of her artistic powers as Renee. One wonders, as the play progresses, if Renee is forgetful of facts and promises from spite or from the onset of memory failure. Serralles’ Ellen goes toe to toe with her mother, fueled with a lifetime of anger over what she sees as willful mistreatment and favoritism. Feldman gives a star performance as Joshua, fully integrating all the surreal moments of the play into a fully rounded character. He is an actor whose career will be worth following.
We Had a World is a funny, angry, poignant, and ultimately loving picture of a family where some members can’t resist pushing each other’s buttons. Yes, it’s as nasty and vituperative as Renee asked it to be, but as seen through Joshua’s eyes there is compassion. It is a powerfully written and acted piece, and I strongly urge you to see it before its limited run ends.
We Had a World is presented by the Manhattan Theatre Club at Stage II in the New York City Center, 131 West 55th Street, through May 11, 2025. For more information or to purchase tickets, go to manhattantheatreclub.com.
