Looking for Old Family Patterns in ‘Roses’

In its inaugural production, the Micah Theatre vividly sketches the self-destructive mechanisms of one family in Frank D. Gilroy’s “The Subject Was Roses,” at the Celebration Theatre.

People who frequent the Celebration, with its gay-oriented resident company, might be somewhat surprised. There’s no gay subject matter in Gilroy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, and director Suzanne Bachner hasn’t tinkered with the script in that regard.

It’s May 1946 in the Bronx, and Timmy (David Heymann) has just returned home to his family’s middle-class apartment, after military service in World War II. His father, John (David Lloyd Wilson), is already growling, and Timmy’s mother, Nettie (Wendy Radford), flitters about in concern. Nettie dotes over her son, who’s been gone three years. John didn’t expect the sickly boy to return at all.

Yet as the weekend progresses, the family uneasily attempts to shift back into old patterns. Mother and son form “a familiar alliance” against the alienated, drunken father, who becomes verbally abusive. Now an adult, Timmy finds solace in liquor, to the chagrin of his mother, who quickly blames his father. When the dust settles, the son plays peacemaker.

Heymann’s Timmy sometimes looks at the audience when he’s speaking to another character, uncomfortably breaking the fourth wall. This quibble aside, the anger, the pain and the complexity of family ties are shown with nuanced performances under Bachner’s sensitive direction.

* “The Subject Was Roses,” Celebration Theatre, 7051 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Feb. 4, 7 p.m. Ends Feb. 4. $15. (310) 289-2999. Running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes.