[NEohioPAL]Waverly Gallery

[Hester Lewellen]

I must take issue with a review in the last set of Topics.  My husband
and I saw "The Waverly Gallery" (at the Cleveland Play House) last
Friday (March 22) and found it touching and at the same time
hysterically funny.  Lest you think we are insensitive, let me mention
that my own mother is suffering from late stage Alzheimer's.  What made
Lonergan's play so right was that all the things they were going through
were very familiar to us; we saw ourselves trying to help Mom remember,
pointing out when she was repeating, getting impatient, not facing
reality, etc. etc. Who knew there were so many plateaus on the downward
spiral?  Anyway, I would recommend people go and laugh and not feel
self-conscious or insensitive.  For our family this is the way of coping
and not dwelling on the macabre.  And we thought that the insensitivity
of the psychiatrist with his own family was also humorous and probably
not unrealistic.  It's a very funny play about a sad subject.  Your
reviewer said he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.  I did both.

Hester Lewellen