Julia Sweeney’s new one-woman show, “In The Family
Way,” is the most remarkable unremarkable show you’ll
probably see all year.
You know Sweeney from her years on “Saturday Night
Live” and characters like Pat or her previous one-woman show,
“God Said, “˜Ha!'” You know she has a loud,
but sweet, sense of humor and the ability to masterfully embody her
characters. All of this serves her well in “In The Family
Way,” which is playing Mondays at the Groundlings Theatre
through June 30 (tickets are $15). It is the touching story of how
she came to adopt a child.
Everything in the show is relatively common fare these days.
From Sweeney’s trials with men to her realizations about the
merits of non-traditional families, the discoveries are relatively
pedestrian. You won’t walk out of the theater having
experienced any deep, socially conscious revelations. But you might
feel like you have, and therein lies the trick.
Sweeney draws the audience into her story so well that you go
through all of the emotional groundswells along with her.
She’s an expert storyteller ““ pacing herself and
choosing just the right amount of details to tug on your
heartstrings while tickling your funny bone. Her narrative style is
both visual and warm. Like the style seems to be for one-person
shows, Sweeney did have a tendency to go too big too much. She
often over-utilizes the her voice’s dynamism and facial
expressions, momentarily pulling the audience out of the story.
Adding greatly to the intimacy was the Groundlings Theatre
itself. The small space made every seat in the house feel part of a
gathering in Sweeney’s living room, and the acoustics allowed
her voice to project without difficulty.
This is a simple show, put on simply, exposing simple truths,
but it’s heartwarming and funny. Don’t take your
significant other to see it though if you’re not prepared to
talk about kids afterward.