So it was back to the Bluma Appel on Thursday evening to see part 2 of Matthew López’ The Inheritance.  Part 1 had certainly left plenty of active plot lines to be resolved (or not) so it looked like being an interesting ride.

Some of the plot arcs are predictable.  Toby Darling continues his narcissistic, self destructive journey to a predictable end; doing a great deal of harm along the way.  Adam and his world basically disappear from the scene as, mostly, do Henry’s sons.  The focus now is on the triangular relationship between Henry, Eric and Leo and on the “Inheritance” and what that means.  But there are all kinds of “hooks” that have been planted that will be picked up again unexpectedly.  For instance, in part 1 Tristan has asked Henry about his tailor and has been told “you can’t possibly afford him” then later, after Tristan has developed a brilliant analogy between AIDS and the US system of government, Henry, half in jest, offers him a job.  To which Tristan replies “You couldn’t possibly afford me”.  So, there are lots of surprises.

Structurally there’s a change of pace too.  The Walter/EM Forster figure makes only one significant appearance, and that’s brief, so the sardonic commentary so prominent in the first two hours of part 1 is missing.  Characters continue to narrate in the first person though there’s less of “how should we tell this story” and there’s less “fourth wall breaking” direct appeal to the audience.  The play is not short of in jokes though.  For example, when Toby produces the 400 page long script of his second play his agent tells him that it is far too long and nobody will go to see a play that long.  Five hours into The Inheritance that brought the house down!

The real tension driving the main plot arc is that Henry introduces an entirely alien element into the relatively comfortable intellectual world of Eric and his friends.  They are all (of course) liberal Democrats.  They believe that Trump wears the Mark of the Beast and that all reasonable people believe, more or less, like them.  Henry Wilcox is a Republican and a Trump donor.  He doesn’t believe that government (or some more vaguely defined “society”) can solve humanity’s problems and he recognises that “ordinary people” include an awful lot of folks who despise him as a gay man just as much as they despise Eric and his friends and he is wired to use his wealth and power to protect himself and his own rather than to build Castles in Spain.  This is reinforced by him being a rare survivor of the AIDS plague which he points out government failed to address.  This produces a degree of conflict, sometimes. violently expressed, that the essentially gentle Eric finds himself caught in the middle of.

Eventually the action moves back to the upstate house.  Eric, channeling Walter, takes a very sick Leo there to be looked after.  The house has been transformed by the enigmatic Margaret; mother of one of the men who died there.  It becomes again a place of healing though not without some angst along the way.  The dual meaning of “The Inheritance” becomes clear.

The description I’ve just written over simplifies a complex web of essentially cyclical subplots.  It doesn’t convey either the subtlety or the surprising nature of much that goes on.  Part 2 is both a logical continuation of part 1 and something of a break from it.  It’s still, by turns, sad, moving and funny.  It still refers to gay sex a lot but it’s far less explicit.  In some ways Henry Wilcox takes on the chorus-like role of Walter but not in quite the same way.

The performances are still strong across the board with Qasim Khan’s very sympathetic Eric taking an even larger role as does Jim Mezon as the frustratingly complex Henry.  Antoine Yared’s Toby is only intermittently present but, when he is, he’s powerfully (self) destructive and disturbing.  There’s a really interesting cameo from Louise Pitre as Margaret; a woman who transforms from a bigot (of an admittedly very routine kind) to a person of real compassion.  Stephen Jackman-Torloff is brilliant in his portrayal of the disintegrating Leo.  Hollywood Jade, as Tristan, is also nuanced and successfully conveys a character of some intellectual depth.

I was also much more aware than in part 1 of the other elements of the production.  It is still mostly about terrific, well directed, acting but it also makes effective use of the other theatrical elements.  The set (Michael Gianfresco) is more prominent here with a sort of advent calendar effect on occasions for the “chorus” rather than having them obviously present in a ring of chairs. There’s also a full transformation from the rather bleak “black box” that has basically served for most of the play to something kinder and more intimate for the restored upstate house.  The lighting (Kimberly Purcell) and sound design (Richard Feren) take on a larger role; especially in conveying a sense of different locations, and are really effective.

Bottom line, this is a play of great depth and complexity brought to life most effectively by Brendan Healey’s direction and a superb cast.  Watching it will take up six hours of your time.  Unpacking it will take far longer.  It’s compelling theatre.

The Inheritance runs until April 14th at the Bluma Appel Theatre. There are a few opportunities to see both parts on one day but mostly it’s a two evening affair.  Check the website for details.

Photo credits: Dahlia Katz.