REVIEW: The World to Come (Woolly Mammoth/Theater J)

Worrying about the impending calamity: it comes with the culture.

Jewish culture, that is. Though the idea of being anxious about things as a Jew is often played for jokes on TV, there’s obviously generational trauma to blame for it. But if you look deeper, there’s generally three specific kinds of fear we coexist under: eima, pachad, and yira. Think of pachad as the typical human fear response: an urgent, stomach turning kind. Eima and yira, on the other hand, serve similar purposes to each other; the former a type of dread, an aversion to existential evils. But the latter is a fear so profound it transcends into wonder. The World to Come by Ali Viterbi, a world premiere by way of Woolly Mammoth and Theater J (performing at the former) combines all three in what feels like two separate plays: one about connections and community at the end of one’s life, and the other a rugged post-apocalyptic thriller. Vibes-wise, it’s exactly one-half Woolly, one-half Theater J, which is a collaboration that works better than one might think, and doesn’t always work in other ways.

Book

Welcome to the Sea Breeze Hebrew Home for the Aging, the best senior care facility in [redacted, USA]. The year is [redacted], and Fanny, Hal, Ruth, and Barbara spend their days reading, competitively Scrabble-ing, and wondering about their grandchildren. Periodically, a nurse will arrive to give Hal some medicine or alert the group that a fellow resident has passed. The entire first act serves as a meditation on this, providing rich characterization to the quartet of seniors. Each feel like a life-well-lived, with genuine interests and interesting, if not traumatic pasts. They also really feel like friends, too, one pairing even evolving into lovers. The underscoring tension comes from the fact that something is going on, outside. And the nurse is under orders to prevent them from knowing what. There’s some lofty world building to hint at some, unseen, calamity, but it’s never explained what exactly Sea Breeze is hiding them from. The lore is deep, but scattered, making it hard to piece together what the apocalypse is. Whatever it is, there’s a brick wall in the way, and conditions are declining rapidly. Med shortages hit and residents are dropping like flies while the resources deteriorate. But the group has each other, right? There’s solace in knowing we have each other, if this is how our lives end, withering at this boring aging care facility.

Then the second act begins, and everything is upended. By now, the apocalypse has hit the home, and it’s more akin to Fallout than Golden Girls. There is a lot of promise in this vibe shift, but it ends up disjointed. Characters that have had natural focus are dropped in the middle of exposition, and suddenly these octogenarians are battle-hardened survivalists. The far-off stories of Act I become real, and the scenery reflects both fantasy and nightmare. I found myself wondering where things were going, as it became a series of edgy vignettes and dream sequences that didn’t tie to any of the themes (until the very last second, where it feels like a cop-out). The World to Come takes its massively interesting central core and tosses them about, only fending for themselves. 2/10

Acting

Each of the residents are brought to mesmerizing life by this ensemble. Naomi Jacobson particularly is superb as Fanny, a snappy Holocaust survivor with a deep care for her friends. Barbara (Brigid Cleary) and Ruth (Claudia J. Arenas) each are delivered warmly and with complexities that make them some of the most interesting parts of the entire production. Hal (Michael Russotto) is the closest thing to a comic relief, which sets up for a more serious Act II in a deftly complimentary fashion. Oh, and Ro Boddie is here, too: primarily as the nurse, but also in some non-spoiled roles that add to the depth. 9/10

Production

The set (Misha Kachman) is richly detailed with a friendly layer of dust and warmth, complimenting the smiley costumes by Ivania Stack. It also evolves in very creative ways, particularly in the more violent second act. The evolutions bring with it some surprising practical effects, which are always welcomed, especially when they are as jolting as in this. Kelly Colburn’s projections are also immensely vivid in this part of the show, and I found myself studying them more than I expected to. 9/10

Viz

Walking into Woolly sets you up for a joyful experience. Enjoy a genial living room set, with old-timey music playing over the speakers. Towering above you is a gigantic window. It feels like an old folks home with history, one where people can be friendly and inviting. Where I have questioned so far is its font choice in the marketing, which to me feels more mystical, in a different way than the show provides. Sharp descender lines and swoopy serifs evoke something more like Aladdin than a story about some old Jewish folks. 8/10

Verdict

The World to Come is a neck-breaking thriller-comedy-drama-thing that is its most enjoyable when it sticks with its characters, or when it leans into the fantasy, but it struggles to pull both off at the same time. 28/40