Cast

Synopsis

New York. When Eddie Kurnitz’s wife dies he deposits his two teenage sons with their formidable grandmother who runs a candy store in Yonkers. But Grandma Kurnitz is not all the boys have to contend with. There are also Bella and Louie her brother, who may have mob connections. Gradually the mood deepens as we come to know this family of emotionally damaged people and the comedy is but one level of a darker drama.

Directors Notes

Neil Simon is one of the most successful living American playwrights. He wrote for TV initially, but his series of autobiographical plays in the late 80s and early 90s were more serious and won him a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award for “Lost in Yonkers”. I think that this is Simon’s best play. It showcases his penchant and flair for deft wordplay. The play probes more deeply into the human psyche than the playwright is usually wont to do. It strikes deeply resonant chords of humanity as the tale unfolds. In comparison to the rest of Simon’s works this is more than just a comedy. “Lost in Yonkers”, set in New York in 1942, above the Yonkers candy store, is a play about finding one’s way through the tangled webs of familial relationships and attempting to survive life without losing one’s sense of self. The characters of the play exhibit various forms of survival techniques: Eddie Kurnitz, a nervous, put upon new widower forced by medical debts and loan sharks, ‘begs for a chance to make money dealing in wartime scrap metal. His impassioned defence of his dignity announces the theme of the play. Uncle Louie’s Gangster connections, the boys’ refuge in a mixture of one liners and late night forays to the candy store for ice cream, and Bella’s constant search for unconditional love and acceptance, Aunt Gert so tyrannised and locked in the past that she forgets to stop talking whenever she breathes in, Grandma Kurnitz, a woman made of steel, whose tough cold-hearted exterior, we discover, is a reaction to a lifetime of devastating pain and loss. This is a truly beautiful play from Neil Simon. I hope that you enjoy evening as much as we have enjoyed the rehearsals and performance.