In Jez Butterworth’s “The Hills of California,” the four Webb sisters gather in the summer of 1976 at Seaview the guesthouse on the outskirts of Blackpool, an English seaside resort on the Irish Sea, where their mother Veronica (a once demanding and selfish Laura Donnelly) lies dying upstairs in what was their childhood home. Jill (an angst-ridden and spinsterish Helena…
If you were to sit in the dark in the Nederlander Theatre at the appointed hour, with the security screen lowered, you would eventually hear Candida Caldicot begin to play the stage-left piano. Soon after, voices are heard, and what easily could be the most engaging radio play begins. And you immediately become entranced, captured by what you hear: the…
If you are a fan of Irish plays you will most likely recognize the characters and may recall hearing similar stories as you listen and watch the epic family drama “The Ferryman” by Jez Butterworth now playing at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre. That is where the familiarity stops, allowing the brilliant dialogue of Mr. Butterworth and the sagacious, meticulous…