Humorous ‘Floor’ Probes the Mother-Daughter War

The battle between mothers and daughters approaches bedlam in Cheryl L. West’s “Jar the Floor,” at the Old Globe’s Cassius Carter Centre Stage.

West throws four generations of resentful daughters together--and these women not only jar the floor, they raise the roof.

It’s a familiar theme. For one of many examples, think of the Witch in “Into the Woods” (which happens to have been born at the Old Globe) lamenting about how children transform from someone you love into someone you lose.

Multiply that feeling by four and you glimpse the rage and the irony within “Jar the Floor.” West handles the irony even better than the rage; it’s “Jar the Floor,” not “Gnash the Teeth.” This show is desperately funny.

West also varies the nuances of her skirmishes so as to avoid monotony. How do these women love/hate their mothers, and vice versa? Let us count the ways.

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The youngest is Vennie (Susan Payne), 27, a struggling pop singer whose mother gave her every advantage. She feels smothered--and determined to throw these advantages back in her mother’s face. Her latest best friend (Jurian Hughes) is, significantly, of the same sex and of a different race. Eyebrows rise.

Vennie’s uptight mother is MayDee (Brenda Pressley), 47, a college professor who awaits news of whether she got her tenure. MayDee felt neglected by her own mother--which is why she tries too hard to compensate with her daughter. MayDee is even more disdainful of men than her daughter; we soon learn that she was molested by one of her mother’s many boyfriends.

Lola (Crystal Laws Green), 65, is MayDee’s mom. OK, she may not have been there when MayDee needed her. But she provided piano lessons--money that was wasted, as MayDee now refuses to touch the keyboard. Besides, look at Lola’s own history. If her father played with her, her mother got jealous--and made it clear that she preferred Lola’s brother. As a result, Lola has always sought comfort in the arms of men.

And then there’s MaDear (Irma P. Hall), 90, Lola’s mother and the matriarch whose birthday party is the occasion for this particular reunion. MaDear’s wits are slipping away. But, near play’s end, we get a glimpse of her problem as well. Her own mother impressed on her a sense of her “nappy-headed” ugliness. No wonder she felt insecure.

MaDear’s mother isn’t around to defend herself, so we don’t get to hear what her own mother did to her . But we get the point.

West traces a few moments in which racism affected this endless cycle of recriminations and regrets, but she also makes it clear that these patterns transcend race. Raisa, Vennie’s white friend, testifies that her own family is a lot like this one. That’s hardly Raisa’s only role in the play, however.

Raisa also is a cancer patient who visibly has only one breast left. West treads on the edge of sentimentality here and risks diffusing her own focus. However, Raisa is hardly there to jerk tears; if anything, her condition provokes healthy laughter when we see the older women react to it.

One of this family’s problems is that they all disapprove of each other’s looks, in one way or another. Raisa’s matter-of-fact attitude toward her appearance challenges them on this score.

Besides, West knows how to write her way through potentially treacherous territory. Her dialogue is wonderfully flavorful and moves the play along quickly. Indeed, the Lola-MaDear relationship could use a bit of embellishment; its details remain a bit sketchy. But, by then, the play is on its way to a semi-ritualistic conclusion that momentarily lifts the women out of their endless cycle for a brief moment of mutual support. It’s an affecting ending, although its warmth probably won’t last.

Although this production is the prolific West’s introduction to the Southland, her cast has played these roles in other productions, and this is the fifth “Jar the Floor” that Tazewell Thompson has staged. All that earlier work pays off in the vigor and seamlessness of this ensemble. As usual, sight lines in the arena-style Cassius Carter arena are occasionally obscured, but, here, the intimacy is well worth these minor sacrifices.

* “Jar the Floor,” Old Globe Theatre, Cassius Carter Centre Stage, Balboa Park, San Diego. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Sundays, 7 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday matinees, 2 p.m. Ends May 1. $23-$34. (619) 239-2255. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes. Irma P. Hall: MaDear Brenda Pressley: MayDee Crystal Laws: Green Lola Susan Payne: Vennie Jurian Hughes: Raisa

Cheryl L. West’s play. Directed by Tazewell Thompson. Sets and lights by Joseph P. Tilford. Costumes by Kay Kurta. Sound by Susan R. White. Stage manager Jerome J. Sheehan.