Full Length Plays
Beyond Therapy
John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest
Beyond Therapy was presented on Broadway at the
Brooks Atkinson Theatre
256 W. 47th St.
New York City, NY
May 17, 1982
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Produced by Warner Theatre Productions/Claire Nichtern and
FDM Productions/Francois de Menil and Harris Maslansky.
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Directed by John Madden
Scenic Design by Andrew Jackness
Lighting Design by Paul Gallo
Costume Design by Jennifer von Mayrhauser
Music Coordinator Jack Feldman.
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Cast
John Lithgow as Bruce, Dianne Wiest as Prudence, Peter Michael Goetz as Dr. Stuart Framingham, Kate McGregor-Stewart as Mrs. Charlotte Wallace, Jack Gilpin as Bob, David (Hyde) Pierce as Andrew
Standbys: James Eckhouse, Ellen Parker, James Widdoes
Prior to Broadway
McGregor-Stewart, Collins, Weaver, Borelli
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Beyond Therapy premiered off-Broadway at the
Phoenix Theatre in New York City
January 1, 1981
T. Edward Hambleton, Managing Director
Steven Robman, Artistic Director
Directed by Jerry Zaks
Scenic Design by Karen Schultz
Lighting Design by Richard Nelson
Costume Design by Jennifer von Mayrhauser
Sound Design by David Rapkin
Cast
Stephen Collins as Bruce, Sigourney Weaver as Prudence, Jim Borelli as Stuart, Jack Gilpin as Bob, Conan McCarty as Andrew, Nick Stannard as Paul*
* the part of Paul, a former boyfriend of Prudence’s, was written out in the subsequent version.
Beyond Therapy is one of Durang’s most popular and frequently performed plays. It’s also one of his sunnier comedies.
The off-Broadway production was directed by Jerry Zaks, whom Durang went on to work with successfully several more times. The Broadway production was directed by John Madden (who later directed the film Shakespeare in Love). The casts of both productions were delightful. In the Broadway cast, in his first Equity job, was David Hyde Pierce, playing the small but fun part of Andrew.
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Some reviews included:
Christopher Durang has the wit, the high, rebellious spirits, and the rage of the born satirist. He is also one of the funniest and most original playwrights at work. His "Beyond Therapy" could be considered his "Alice in Wonderland" with the stunning Sigourney Weaver at large in a world run by psychiatrists … this whirligig of a show…trips merrily along.”
– Edith Oliver, New Yorker
One of the funniest plays I’ve seen in years
– Rex Reed, New York Daily News
The jokes [about psychiatrists] have never stopped, but rarely have they been as funny as they are in Christopher Durang’s newest comedy, which opened on Broadway last week. Screwball and scatty, with as much owed to the Marx Brothers as to the Viennese brethern, "Beyond Therapy" offers the best therapy of all: guaranteed laughter. Durang’s plot, which has more bounces than a pinball game, goes from the unexpected to the unpredicted… providing two hours of hilarious surprises. John Lithgow and Dianne Wiest are both funny and touching as the star-crossed lovers.
– Gerald Clarke, Time Magazine
“[Durang] is a serious young writer who can’t help thinking comically. "Beyond Therapy"…[is] zany in a particularly intelligent way…wickedly funny, terribly slanted, and essentially true.
– Dan Sullivan, LA Times
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The Story
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Bruce and Prudence meet through a personals ad, but their date doesn’t go so well. He expresses emotions and likes to cry. Prudence doesn’t think men should cry “unless something falls on them.” He has a male lover. “I’m bisexual,” he tells her. She’s not sure; they talk at cross purposes some more, and then end up throwing water in each other’s faces.
We then see them talk about their meeting with their respective psychiatrists. Hers is a macho pig who once seduced her and keeps talking about his prowess. He refuses to say much, but occasionally bursts into inappropriate anger. His is a warm, encouraging woman who embraces her patients, talks through her Snoopy doll and believes in expressing all feelings no matter what. She encourages Bruce to cry, and on hearing he threw water at Prudence she cries out “Good for you! Ruff, ruff, ruff!” The “ruff ruff” is her barking for Snoopy.
Somehow Bruce and Prudence meet a second time, surprisingly overcome their initial loathing, and start to maybe like one another. But then she has to meet the male lover Bob; and listen to Bob’s crazy mother on the phone. And the whole thing comes to a chaotic end in a mad restaurant scene where screaming and shootings take place, and Bruce and Prudence almost get together, but don’t quite. They do like one another though, and end by humming softly together their favorite song, Someone to Watch Over Me.
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Even though Bruce and Prudence don’t hook up, they do end up liking one another; and Beyond Therapy usually ends up being an audience pleaser.
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In 2002 Fynsworth Alley put a CD recording of the play starring David Hyde Pierce, now in the lead role of Bruce, and talented Catherine O’Hara as Prudence. Kate McGregor-Stewart, who was adored by audiences in both New York productions, is on the CD, recreating her role of Mrs. Wallace.
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Beyond Therapy has many pop culture references from the early 1980s. Durang has often been asked to try to update the play, but has come to believe it is best presented as a period piece of the 1980s. For more discussion on this topic, see Essay on Updating.
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Cast size: 2 women, 4 men
Rights: ConcordTheatricals
photos by Martha Swope
John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest
Pierce, Goetz, McGregor-Stewart, Gilpin, Lithgow, Wiest
Wiest, Lithgow, Goetz
Lithgow, Wiest & Gilpin