A: Is for art that glares at life

The disease of the year seems to be bi-polar. "Next to Normal" deals with a wife's descent into madness, as she pulls everyone else down with her and then sets herself free. The new play at Primary Stages "A Lifetime Burning," deals with the same issue but brings into play the question of: when does truth begin or lies end. This is one of the most insightful plays, I have seen in a long while. Playwright Cusi Cram understands what those of us who are not mad, deal with, in a humorous and deeply moving way. Cram's lines bite into the heart of the matter with "We are the stars of our own f---ing movies" and "Your like a maze inside a thimble." The play centers around Emma, Jennifer Westfeldt who has just published an autobiographical novel about herself. Nothing about her book is true and her sister Tess, Christina Kirk is beyond fed up. Tess has been dealing with the manic Emma, being pushed into the background all her life and even more so since her parents died. Now that Tess's life is failing apart, she is no longer willing to deal with the attention craving Emma. Not only has Emma lied about her life but her dead parents and Tess. You see Irish Emma, has claimed to have been raised in the ghetto by drug-addicted South African parents instead of being well off. "A Lifetime Burning" is based on Margaret Seltzer, whose memoir "Love and Consequences" was fictional. Seltzer was also outed by her sister.

Isabel Keating lightens the sibling cat fighting as Lydia, the high powered jaded publishing magnate who encourages Emma and gives her a hefty advance. She is one of the best components of the play. Raul Castillo also adds to the downfall as the young under privileged student she uses to create her fictional world. Pam MacKinnonm directs this dark comedy like a roller coaster of emotions, so by the end you see that damaged souls are every where you look and nothing is as it seems. I leave you with a section of dialogue from the play " When did truth become important? Since the American imagination failed." "A Lifetime Burning" proves that truth can set you free and that is a F.A.C.T.

Playing at 59 East 59th until September 5th.





"A Lifetime Burning," which takes its title from T.S. Elliot's poem "East Coker," runs through Sept. 5.