Old Familiar Faces
Synopsis: "Where are they gone, the old familiar faces?" In 1786, author Mary Lamb commits a horrifying act of bloodshed and her brother Charles learns to forgive. In 2013, a talented man refuses to change and his brilliant lover learns to evolve. Old Familiar Faces is a heartbreaking, time-jumping drama about four lives, bound by obsession, rocked by madness, and saved by blank verse. Based on true events.
Available for purchase: New Play Exchange (e-copy).
Run-time: 2h 20m with one intermission
Breakdown: 2M, 2W
Available for purchase: New Play Exchange (e-copy).
Run-time: 2h 20m with one intermission
Breakdown: 2M, 2W
| CLICK HERE TO READ AN EXCERPT |
Production History
Old Familiar Faces received its world premiere at the Players Theatre as part of the 2013 New York International Fringe Festival in August 2013, produced by Tin Drum Productions.
Cast:
MARY LAMB: Tandy Cronyn
LEE: Marianne Miller
OLIVER: James Patrick Nelson
CHARLES LAMB: Sam Tsoutsouvas
Written/directed by Nat Cassidy
Assistant director: John Moriarty
Stage Manager: Mark Brystowski
Lighting Design: Kia Rogers
Gore supervisor: Stephanie Cox-Williams
Old Familiar Faces received its world premiere at the Players Theatre as part of the 2013 New York International Fringe Festival in August 2013, produced by Tin Drum Productions.
Cast:
MARY LAMB: Tandy Cronyn
LEE: Marianne Miller
OLIVER: James Patrick Nelson
CHARLES LAMB: Sam Tsoutsouvas
Written/directed by Nat Cassidy
Assistant director: John Moriarty
Stage Manager: Mark Brystowski
Lighting Design: Kia Rogers
Gore supervisor: Stephanie Cox-Williams
Press and awards:
Nominee: 2014 New York Innovative Theatre Awards for Outstanding Full-Length Script (Nat Cassidy), Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role (Tandy Cronyn), Outstanding Actor in a Lead Role (James Patrick Nelson), and Outstanding Ensemble (Tandy Cronyn, Sam Tsoutsouvas, Marianne Miller, James Patrick Nelson).
"[A] wise and moving new play ... Cassidy’s perception into a dimly distant time is matched by his insight into the always even harder truths to see about our own ... The frankness and feeling of now we get from both pairs of characters, behind the veil of legend and with the guard of the fourth wall down, is remarkable. ... [Old Familiar Faces features a] luminously shaded, humane and intrepid performance by Tandy Cronyn [and] a portrayal of astonishing wit and warmth by Sam Tsoutsouvas ... The play enacts some of the most tender connections and most honest and aware accounts of mental illness and disintegrating relationships I’ve ever seen, and across a gulf of personality and from either side of the chasm of their relationship’s lifeline, Lee (Marianne Miller) and Oliver (James Patrick Nelson) give soliloquies, on longing for a not-yet-lover who is filing her thoughts and the loss of a wife his life has gone silent without, that are as heartbreaking as anything in the theatrical canon."
- Adam McGovern, Fanchild
"[M]agical ... masterful direction by Cassidy ... [Shakespeare's] verse is so beautifully illuminated by Cassidy’s storytelling, knowledge of Shakespeare is not a pre-requisite for enjoying the show. But language is the real love object of this play. And the delight of Old Familiar Faces is the extent to which Cassidy’s own words resonate with poetry and meaning so much so, that he can move from Shakespeare’s words to his own without anyone but a Shakespeare scholar (or devoted theater artist) knowing where each begins and ends, much like the narratives themselves. ... [S]o poetic, so full of insight and understanding, they felt like [Shakespeare's] 38th play and drew tears from my formerly chirpy friend. ... The performances in Old Familiar Faces are exquisite. Tandy Cronyn plays Mary Lamb with intelligence and power, making her timidity and self-loathing all the more excruciating. Sam Tsoutsouvas embodies the furiously loving but beleaguered Charles with a command of language that makes even his crudest utterances seem upper crust. James Patrick Nelson, as Oliver, is heartbreakingly truthful in every moment from tender to tormented. I almost feel creepy being in the room for someone else’s most intimate moments - due also to Marianne Miller’s excellent work as Lee. Miller is an actor who can move from ingénue, for which she’s likely to often be cast, to powerhouse - reminiscent of a young Kathleen Turner. And both Miller and Nelson do 'overlapping banter' as well as any Sorkin regular. ... So much brilliance on stage. ... Old Familiar Faces is a can’t-miss show in the 2013 FringeNYC season."
- Sarah Tuft, Usher Nonsense
"Brimming with acerbic wit ... Ingenious ... The counterpoint here is spectacular, not to mention ballsy. It takes a lot of nerve for a playwright to put his own text right next to – literally – the greatest words ever written for the theater. Cassidy pulls it off, mostly thanks to the dry sense of humor sneaking through the piece and giving it mischievous life. ... I will have to show up for Reverend Cassidy’s next sermon."
- Mitch Montgomery, Surreal Time Press
"Cassidy [is] a seismic talent ... He is a craftsman of the stage, and earns one’s trust from the start. ... He entrenches us in the dualities of mental illness and caregiving, pride and insecurity, all-consuming joy and outright hatred. Characters take flight and are racked with guilt. Others remain and are haunted by time passing. The world of this play is messy and of the gut, not the brain, and yet still manages to articulate the magic of Shakespeare’s work without resorting to didacticism. I can’t imagine another contemporary playwright who would think to use the slang, insults, and bawdy humor of Shakespeare as a way to inform the inner and outer lives of his non-Shakespearean characters. It’s a gutsy move characteristic of Cassidy, and one that perhaps only he could pull off successfully. ... Tandy Cronyn, Marianne Miller, James Patrick Nelson, and Sam Tsoutsouvas deliver impeccable performances, endowing the three languages of this play – the personal, the Shakespearean, and the physical – with equal power and vulnerability. Cassidy does a solid job in his dual role as director, pivoting the tone from dramatic to comic and back again with ease."
- Nathaniel Kressen, nytheatre.com
"Somewhere between madness and murder, loving and leaving is where the heart of [Nat] Cassidy’s impressionistic, funny and personal new play Old Familiar Faces lies. ... Led by a first rate cast, Nat Cassidy’s two-act play examines the difficulties, compromises and pain that come from loving, deeply. The stakes are naturally high and the lows are acutely felt ... Thanks to [Cassidy's] formidable gift with language, the effort these couples make to keep loving despite the difficulties, and harder still, when the love is no longer reciprocated, is playful, beautiful and decidedly worth it. ... Stripped of their 'language,' the holes in their relationship are exposed. Jealousy, lying, and deceit eat away at their relationship and so, they go their separate ways in what was surely the most gorgeously written scene of the play. "
- Susyanne Dottino, Show Business Weekly
"This new play reinvents and thrills. ... Cassidy weaves an ornate tapestry full of little gems of searing humor, haunting violence, deep regret, and profound love. As the play unfolds you are constantly surprised how much in common you have with all the characters he has created. ... The non-linear structure hooks you in from the beginning, teasing you with bits and pieces of bait along the way. ... Cassidy's language envelops you. At times, it is reminiscent of Christopher Durang and even Tony Kushner. One moment you are laughing hysterically and the next you are questioning everything you know. ... As Mary Lamb tells her brother, 'Use your own words.' Cassidy does and it is a language I want to hear again and again. "
- Shawna Cormier, Theatre is Easy
" Combining quotations from Shakespeare and his own blank verse, Cassidy presents us with much that is beautiful and moving. To combine his own writing with Shakespeare's takes, what?, daring, courage, ego, balls? But Cassidy pulls it off, and the play is an aural pleasure. ... I hope the future brings Old Familiar Faces back to New York for longer than a Fringe-length stay."
- Wendy Caster, Show Showdown
"We’re nearing the point that when Nat Cassidy is in something or writes something or produces something, we just show up without needing any further information."
- Maxamoo
"Romeo & Juliet with Orlando Bloom and Condola Rashad is opening soon. But seriously, do we need another rendition of this play? If you, too, would rather see innovative, original work then head to Old Familiar Faces by Nat Cassidy. It will both satisfy your hunger for blank verse from the Bard and expose you to one of the hottest young playwrights in town."
- Maxamoo (again!)
"Old Familiar Faces by two-time NY Innovative Theatre Award-winner Nat Cassidy promises to be a work of tremendous intelligence and a big pay-off. In the opening scene, performed at the press conference, interwoven lines from Shakespeare’s masterpieces ushered in an exchange between brother and sister in shifting stages of consciousness – dreams, ghosts and life in its fleshiest incarnation – blood. Nat explains, 'The Shakespeare verse 'kind of spring(s) up the way songs might in a musical… when the characters can’t express what they want to express, they go into the a scene from the canon and express through that.' It was intriguing, ominous even, but also somehow lush with its period costume, masterful performances and stylized language. Cassidy based his play on the brother-and-sister writing team Charles and Mary Lamb, who interweaved the words of Shakespeare with their own. Mary also suffered from mental illness including a very dark incident, which I won’t go into in case it proves to be a spoiler. Nat is one of New York City's rising playwrights, with numerous productions and awards, critical acclaim, and a reputation for producing intelligent, darkly comic plays with one foot in horror and the other in literary allusion. ... Cassidy’s work brings to mind the “Stranger Than Fiction” complex interwoven narratives of Tom Stoppard, Dennis Potter and Charlie Kaufman – in other words, the guy’s got IQ! But he also has heart. There was great tenderness ... Shakespeare is in good hands."
- Usher Nonsense (preview)
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