Review: ‘Louisa Gillis’ explores the corrosive power of old grudges

The world premiere play that opened Saturday at North Coast Repertory Theatre is named “Louisa Gillis,” but the title character never appears in the 90-minute family comedy-drama.

Instead, Louisa is ominously present in the minds and hearts of her survivors, who have been gradually poisoned over the decades by the list of demands she left behind in her four-page “Hudson Letter.”

Her husband Steven Gillis, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Shakespeare scholar, was left penniless. Her daughter Celia has become an embittered alcoholic. And her 20something granddaughter Lucy is a college dropout with zero confidence or direction in life.

As the play begins, Steven is dying of heart disease and living against his will in a Connecticut retirement home far away from the New York City apartment he long called home.

Because her father needs expanded medical care, Celia is footing the bill for him to live in the rural but upscale care center with Helga, his gentle, adoring and much-younger second wife. But Steven shows only resentment, rather than gratitude, for her efforts.

Playwright McClelland Glass gradually unfolds the layers of her play to slowly reveal the reasons for the family’s estrangement, which I won’t reveal here. But the why is not the point of the play. Instead, it’s about how generational guilt, filial loyalty, traumatic memories and lack of communication can drive families apart.

Under David Ellenstein’s direction, the production stars North Coast Rep veteran James Sutorius as the fading but humorously irascible Steven. Ellenstein’s real-life wife Denise Young is wonderful and natural as the grounded Helga. Faline England realistically seethes with pent-up resentment as Celia. And Caroline Renee has a nervous, heartbroken energy as the granddaughter Lucy, who longs to end the family drama before her grandpa dies.

Marty Burnett designed the multi-locale scenery, which doubles as Steven and Celia’s apartments. Matthew Novoty designed lighting, Matt FitzGerald designed sound and Elisa Benzoni designed costumes.

As a new play, “Louisa Gillis” could still use some refining. The character of Lucy needs more development, and I also wanted to know more about Helga. As for pacing, the play gets off to a slow start.

Then it shifts into melodrama for a couple of over-the-top drunken scenes depicting Celia’s dependency on “Johnnie” (as in Johnnie Walker scotch). Then, fortunately, the play finds its way to a poetic, touching and satisfying conclusion.

McClelland Glass also wrote the 2004 off Broadway play “Trying,” which North Coast Rep produced in a mid-pandemic streaming production in 2021. That filmed play also starred Sutorius as a cranky, aging man struggling to communicate with a young female secretary about Lucy’s age.

“Trying” is sharper, tighter and more engrossing than “Louisa Gillis,” but with some work it’s sure to improve.

‘Louisa Gillis’

When: 7 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Through Feb. 8

Where: North Coast Repertory Theatre 987 Lomas Santa Fe Drive, Solana Beach

Tickets: $58.50-$80.50

Phone: 858-481-10055

Online: northcoastrep.org