In 'Skylight,' Now at None Too Fragile, a Deft Examination of the Tenderness and Pain of Relationships

Sometimes, when certain playwrights have an urge to write a play about human relationships, they feel a need to make their characters “interesting” or “different.” This results in plays that might feature an uncle who dresses up in a penguin costume and lives in a tent in the backyard, or a grandmother who smokes corncob pipes and listens to loud Wayne Newton albums night and day on her front porch.

Happily, other writers eschew such lame trappings and prefer to dive into the reality of relationships in which recognizable humans find themselves. In Skylight, now at the None Too Fragile theater in Akron, the acclaimed British playwright David Hare presents us with a young woman, Kyra, who walked out on a multi-year affair with an older man named Tom. She’s a teacher, he runs a chain of restaurants. And he has an 18-year-old son, Edward.

Employing this rather mundane material—what, no drug overdoses? no runaway circus clown living in the attic?—Hare fashions a nuanced play that explores the tenderness and pain of a relationship that once had warmth that both she and he would want to revive. If life only worked like that.

The play also addresses the class differences involved since Kyra barely making ends meet, now teaching at school with very needy kids. Meanwhile, Tom is rolling in dough—his chauffeur is waiting in a Benz outside. Tom can’t understand why Kyra insists on living in her cold “fur storage” vault in Tom’s description, that depends on one over-stressed electric space heater.

When Tom stops by to visit, their conversation draws out both their similarities and differences. She’s “into listening” while he can’t abide men who say they listen to the women in their lives (“Listening is halfway to begging.”) Still, she has fondness for him since he gave her a place when she needed one, and he is vulnerable since the death of his wife Alice.

As in all relationships, there are elements that draw people closer and simultaneously threaten to rip them apart. Tom invites her to go out to dinner but she insists on cooking, and that’s just the beginning.

These very real but fascinating characters are woven with skill by Hare and the excellent three-person cast under the elegant direction of Sean Derry. In the role of Tom, Doug Sutherland allows his character’s arrogance to shine through even as he tries to reach out to his former lover. He is offended by the space heater and, when he is given a small piece of ordinary cheese to grate for the meal, he is reluctant to touch it since it is not up to his restauranteur’s standard.

As Kyra, Diana Frankhauser underplays the tension of the situation to marvelous effect. You can sense the push-pull of her feelings for Tom and the two eventually create an ideal theatrical balance that reveals the totally unbalanced truth of this relationship.

There are only two slight missteps. One is when Kyra goes on a rant about the callousness towards people in need by corporations and such. It is a clear pitch for a mini-ovation from the audience which it receives, but it feels coerced. The other is that the magnetic poles of Tom and Kyra, while evident, could be more clearly defined.

The play is bookended by scenes involving Kyra and Edward (Daniel Teleford), as Tom’s son first stops by to see Kyra and later returns with a surprise for her. These are touching, quiet moments that reveal still more about Kyra and, by reflection, Tom himself.

In short, Skylight is a treat for those who want to immerse themselves in a skillfully written play, staged by a director who knows that you don’t need a runaway circus clown in the attic to create an enthralling theatrical experience.

Skylight
Through December 16 at None Too Fragile Theatre, 732 W. Exchange St., Akron, nonetoofragile.com, 330-962-5547.

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