"Kin" brings people together in more ways than one. The play's two protagonists initially bond over their respective family tragedies, and the audience is united in empathy for these characters, their families and writer Bathsheba Doran's impressive — if flawed — New York.
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As the title suggests, this is a play about family. In fact, even though romantic leads Anna (the low-key Kristen Bush) and Sean (a notably charismatic Patch Darragh) anchor the events leading up to their epic, weather-tested wedding on Irish cliffs, their relatives give the story significance and actually offer the most complex characterizations. Anna and Sean are then best understood through their relationships with their respective networks of friends and family. Interestingly, the couple does not even share a scene until midway through the play.
Anna's life is structured around her relationship with the central figures in her life, or lack thereof. One is with her melodramatic, struggling actress best friend, Helena, a very funny and relatable Laura Heisler, who perhaps carries the play's best performance. Helena cares deeply for Anna, but isn't above making causally barbed criticisms, underscoring the insensitivity and self-absorption from which Helena embarks on her own journey of self-discovery.
Sean also has a troubled relationship. His mother, Linda (the very empathetic Suzanne Bertish), was left permanently scarred with agoraphobia after a vicious act of violence. Despite this, Linda is a center of warmth and comfort to her son as they talk over the thousands of miles separating them from each other — one in a prison of her own creation in her coastal Irish home, the other in the concrete jungle of New York City.
There are some modest problems with "Kin." Most importantly, the two leads are less developed than the other characters: We only come to understand the protagonists through their family members, friends and former lovers. The finale is also a little too neat, tying up some loose ends that might have been better left hanging. However, Doran has created an intricate web of the ties that bind us — and sometimes suffocate us. The flaws and setbacks of these elaborately drawn characters are balanced by their tentative triumphs, and although it is ultimately a bit too optimistic, "Kin" is a thoughtful meditation on the delicacies of intimate relationships.
"Kin" is playing at Playwrights Horizons, at 416 W. 42nd St. between 9th and 10th avenues, through April 17. $15 Student Rush tickets may be purchased at the box office starting one hour prior to curtain.
