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My Mother’s Severed Head

New play benefits mostly from a great title cleverly promising heaps of Grand Guignol blood and distorted mother love.

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Giancarlo Herrera, Katelyn Sparks and Luis Alberto Garcia in a scene from Charles Cissel’s “My Mother’s Severed Head” at Theatre One on Theatre Row (Photo credit: Russ Rowland)

[avatar user=”Joel Benjamin” size=”96″ align=”left”] Joel Benjamin, Critic[/avatar]

Charles Cissel’s new play My Mother’s Severed Head benefits mostly from a great title cleverly promising heaps of Grand Guignol blood and distorted mother love.

Sadly, these promises aren’t kept in this mishmash of plots and characters that never quite meshes into a viable whole; it remains an unsteady comedy/fantasy never morphing into a smooth-running play.  Cissel awkwardly interrupts the play, alternating reality—such as it is—with colorful dance/mime sequences.   The characters—including the Mother/aka Severed Head—yell at each other, most often about that poor, ubiquitous head, garishly made up for the Mexican celebration of El Día de los Muertos. Every time the head speaks her mind the play comes to impudent life.

When the most vivid character in a cast of four wounded characters is the eponymous head (acted with fearless panache and humor by Nana Ponceleon) something is out of balance.

Katelyn Sparks, Nana Ponceleon and Giancarlo Herrera in a scene from Charles Cissel’s “My Mother’s Severed Head” at Theatre One on Theatre Row (Photo credit: Russ Rowland)

None of the other performances measure up to her vivid vocalizations and sense of loss, not even the actor playing her heartbroken son Robert, Giancarlo Herrera who is eager but unsubtle.  Robert is a failed actor who feels terrible guilt about how his mother lost her head.  To keep his mind off this tragedy he writes a play for himself and a young actress, Gabrielle (Katelyn Sparks, sweetly awkward and naïve) who wanders in off the street.

The play-within-the-play that Robert writes is a clumsy knockoff of Eugene O’Neill’s A Long Day’s Journey into Night.  He and Gabrielle run through lines as they prepare for a performance that will never occur.  Humorously, Robert casts her as Eugene, one of the O’Neill brothers.  Their rehearsal scenes alternate with weird dance intervals signaled by sudden light shifts (wonderful lighting by Daniela Fresard).  During these episodes the Father (played by Luis Alberto Garcia) gets to show off some nifty, sexy dance moves belying his otherwise strict pater familias personality.

The Father and Robert are constantly at each other’s throats trying to deal with the guilt of how the Mother lost her head the bizarre story of which comes out in a comically overwrought confession scene which leads, magically, to the reconnection of Mother’s head to her body.

The final scene, the best in My Mother’s Severed Head, almost saves the play with its energetic party vibes.

Nana Ponceleon and Luis Alberto Garcia in a scene from Charles Cissel’s “My Mother’s Severed Head” at Theatre One on Theatre Row (Photo credit: Russ Rowland)

Throughout the play Camilo Sanchez Lobo provides an impeccably performed undercurrent of guitar stylings that vary from weird to haunting.

Set in a backroom of a Mexican restaurant which has become a shrine to the head of the Mother, Head is blessed with a terrific set by Wesley Cornwell and imaginative costumes by Heather Carey, but ever quite runs with the divine eccentricity of the setup which is a shame.

Richard Caliban directs with an eye on speed which too often clouds whatever good qualities the show has.

My Mother’s Severed Head has been produced under the auspices of Bruce Willis with Greg Olson & Greg Burgess.

My Mother’s Severed Head (through October 2, 2021)

Theatre One at Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street, in Manhattan

For tickets call 212-744-2442 ext. 2 or visit http://www.todaytx.com/nyc/my-mother’s-severed-head/purchase

Running time:  75 minutes without an intermission

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About Joel Benjamin (576 Articles)
JOEL BENJAMIN was a child performer on Broadway and danced with leading modern dance and ballet companies. Joel has been attending theater, ballet and opera performances ever since childhood, becoming quite opinionated over the years. He was the founder and artistic director of the American Chamber Ballet and subsequently was massage therapist to the stars before becoming a reviewer and memoirist. He is a member of the Outer Critics Circle.

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