"The Father" at North Coast Repertory Theatre

     Florian Zeller’s quietly intense drama The Father at the North Coast Repertory Theatre takes the audience into the “reality” of the mind of a person with deteriorating and heartbreaking dementia. Eighty-year-old Andre’s (James Sutorius) perceptions and recognitions change from scene to scene, and sometimes even faster in this unsettling but relevant play. Helpless and frustrated is his daughter Anne (Robyn Cohen), who aches to do “the right thing” for her father and for herself.
     Sutorius’ performance is courageous and unshowy in this numbing one-act production
directed by NCR’s David Ellenstein. The supporting cast includes Richard Baird, Shana Wride, Jacque Wilke, Matthew Salazar-Thompson and Cohen, who experiences every grown child’s most painful nightmare. (Review originally published in San Diego CityBeat on 6/13/18.)