(photo: Christopher O. Banks)

The Family Reunion In T.S. Eliot's play, a house is not merely a home--it's a world unto itself. Those assembled at English country estate Wishwood for dowager Amy's birthday party soon reveal themselves as either insiders or outsiders. Amy's sister Agatha's plainspokenness marks her as more visitor than citizen. Soon after the arrival of another prodigal, Amy's deranged son Harry, Agatha reassures him: "If you want no pretenses, let us have no pretenses." But Harry's mother and his other aunts and uncles engage in constant small analyses and corrections in their desperate attempt to smooth over his tortured recollection of the sea voyage where his wife was drowned--a story that includes the telling phrase "when I pushed her over."

The script is both good theater and good literature, and the Washington Stage Guild's production, under Bill Largess' careful direction, is up to the task at hand. The actors' movements are dancelike and smooth, their characterizations precise, whether pouring cocktails or musing about lost hopes. The message of this murder mystery/Greek tragedy/religious allegory seems to be about trading one flawed world for another, better one. Harry's arrival at Wishwood threatens its stultifying atmosphere, but the Christian playwright's sights are ultimately fixed on something beyond the manor walls. (PMW)

1901 14th St. NW.
Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.; Fridays & Saturdays at 8 p.m.
matinees Saturdays & Sundays at 2:30 p.m.
(240) 582-0050