The Voysey Inheritance

The Voysey Inheritance, adapted by David Mamet (Harley Granville-Barker's original), has been given a lovely revival at the Atlantic Theater, featuring one of my favorite actors Michael Stuhlbarg.

Set in England at the turn of the 20th century, the show opens on the lovely set of the Voysey Family drawing room. As the family livens up the space, we meet Edward Voysey, and quickly learn that this family is falling apart. In the first half of the story, Edward learns from his father that their family business of investing client's money to earn a larger profit has been a complete scam. Edward's father has been embezzling client's money for his own puposes and has in effect bankrupted his entire business. Shocking news - and a fabulous performance as the father from Fritz Weaver.

Mr. Voysey soon passes away and Edward is left to take over what's left of the business - as it's in shambles. Edward, being an honest person (a considerable thing with the way his family has been acting) tries his hardest, and works nonstop to turn the business around and earn back the money for their clients - the true way. Slowly and surely he suceeds in doing so but in doing so learns that his family has gotten quite accustomed to their comfortable living and find it hard to live otherwise. He also can't outrun the fact he must now Edward face the consequences of his father's actions - and that will certainly be prison. What a moral conflict for a man (or woman) to face...and one that Mamet is quite good at displaying.

To borrow a quote from nytheatre.com "The Voysey Inheritance shows us how simple it might be for Edward to stray from his righteous path: by keeping everything under wraps, he could just as easily continue his father's thievery instead of paying back the money—a sobering (and, unfortunately, relevant) thought in the age of the Enron and WorldCom financial scandals."


The show as a whole was really enjoyable. As I mentioned before, the acting is top-notch and Michael Stuhlbarg leads that effort. I doubt I'm the only one out there who really loves Mr. Stuhlbarg this much - I hold all other actors up to him for review - he truly amazes me each time I see him on stage. Just check reviews from shows in his past and you'll see he's become quite the critic's darling. He's quietly become one of the finest stage actors we have today. I had the pleasure of meeting him at the Drama League Awards this past May and he's incredibly kind in person.

Well - go see the show, I read that it just extended. The Atlantic has been on a role for getting shows on Broadway (Lt. of Inishmore, Spring Awakening), so we'll see where this heads next...