A Grieving Mother: The Testament of Mary at the New Rep

Mary receives very little mention in the Bible; there is actually more written about her in the Koran than in the New Testament, and she was an afterthought in early Christianity. Only in the fourth century AD did she begin to be given status in the church. Because so little is written about her in the Gospels, every artist is free to create his or her own picture, in image or in words. One such is the short one-woman play Testament of Mary, by Colm Toibin now at the New Rep Theatre’s Black Box. The play was presented on Broadway, and received several Tony nominations, but had a surprisingly short run. Apparently the director did not feel the script was strong enough to hold an audience and used a dramatic staging, with a buzzard on the stage and a nude Mary at one point. The current production, directed by Jim Petosa, takes the opposite tack. There is a stone wall as a backdrop, and a single large rock on which the actress sits from time to time, and Mary. This production requires a strong actress, and Paula Langton more than fulfilled that need. Alone on stage for over an hour and a half without intermission, she had the audience captivated throughout. This Mary is a very human figure, and her story recounts the life of Jesus, with focus on the crucifiction, from the point of view of a grieving mother who does not understand what her son was doing or why he had to suffer so. She is giving her story in contradiction to that of the unnamed “visitors” intent on re-writing the story to fit their needs, doubtless two of the Apostles. The play was heavily condemned by local Catholic laity, but the play is certainly not anti-Catholic, simply the biblical story as it might have been seen by a very human mother. With a wonderful actress, this play should be on your list to see before the run ends.