Sentimental Journey

by David Anthony Fox

We're greeted by a lived-in, wood-paneled room that suggests the 1940s, and conversation revolves around icons (Hubert Humphrey, Tyrone Power) from a nostalgic past. So it's jarring when a cordless phone rings, reminding us the play is set in 1997.

In every way, Katie Forgette's The O'Conner Girls evokes a kind of crafty, sentimental ensemble piece I thought had died out. It's easy to sniff disapprovingly — critics love to describe these things as "crowd-pleasing," suggesting that everybody loves it except the reviewer, who finds it far beneath him.

Yet for better and worse (mostly better), O'Conner Girls is just that: old-fashioned, crowd-pleasing and enjoyable. It breaks no new ground — far from it — but is a pleasant way to pass an evening. Think of Girls as the theatrical equivalent of Mom's tuna casserole: You know there's more sophisticated and nourishing food out there, but sometimes this is just the thing you want.

Such plays are built on homely truisms, and Girls is no exception. Two middle-aged sisters are at the family home in Minnesota for their father's funeral. Martha has actually been here for years — matronly and plain, she's the family caregiver who rarely thinks of her own needs. Liz is prettier and more driven; years ago she moved to California, took up real estate and went through three husbands along the way. Caregiving is not Liz's thing, and that's a problem since their mother seems increasingly scatterbrained.

It will certainly be a familiar situation to many in the audience, and playwright Forgette handles it skillfully. Before turning to writing, Forgette was an actress, and you can see it in the plethora of good exit lines and nice two-person moments. The play offers hope and fulfillment to a degree that life never does, but what's the harm in it? I'm more bothered by some too-easy theatricality — lots of cute entrance gambits and an overabundance of rural charm — but it's all easy on the eyes.

Girls and plays like it live or die by the strength of the production, and People's Light gets most of it right. Marcia Saunders (Martha) is wonderful — sad, funny and ordinary in a way that's rare to see on a stage. Close behind her is Carla Belver as Sarah, the fragile but wily mother. The remaining actors are not as strong, not as real as these two. Abigail Adams' direction finds the pulse of the play but not the little details that make us really believe this is a family — nor does she mine sufficiently the darker undercurrents that would help compensate for the treacle.

THE O'CONNER GIRLS Through July 24, People's Light and Theatre, 39 Conestoga Rd., Malvern, 610-644-3500