“In This House” is a beyond-brilliant gift to actors. Through the lives of three women, Girard evokes a South Boston neighborhood: lunch lady Jessie, her life-long friend Maggie, and her college-aged daughter Lynn. When Jessie opens her home to cancer patients and their families, the once-stable relationships among the women list, while the visits of Lenny, a New Hampshire farmer, threaten to capsize Jessie. In exquisite language, Deirdre Girard renders the gifts of vulnerability and its costs, and we learn, for Jessie and Lenny, as for us all, there is no free lunch. Strongly recommended.
“In This House” is a beyond-brilliant gift to actors. Through the lives of three women, Girard evokes a South Boston neighborhood: lunch lady Jessie, her life-long friend Maggie, and her college-aged daughter Lynn. When Jessie opens her home to cancer patients and their families, the once-stable relationships among the women list, while the visits of Lenny, a New Hampshire farmer, threaten to capsize Jessie. In exquisite language, Deirdre Girard renders the gifts of vulnerability and its costs, and we learn, for Jessie and Lenny, as for us all, there is no free lunch. Strongly recommended.