You know a play is working when you find yourself both laughing and crying, sometimes simultaneously.
Such was likely the case for at least some of the audience, some of the time, at the opening of Jake Brasch’s funny, painful “The Reservoir” at Berkeley Repertory Theatre.
Directed by Mike Donahue with deep understanding, it is performed by an excellent seven-member cast of which four of the seven portray, and perhaps are, oldsters.
This is unusual in today’s youth-oriented culture. Even more heartening, not one of the four are cartoony-cute. The playwright and the actors are unfailingly truthful to their characters’ arcs.
Nor is there any attempt to soften the painful truths of not just growing up and struggling with personal problems but equally with the inevitability of aging.
“The Reservoir” is indeed a tragicomedy for all human beings.
College dropout Josh (a wonderfully vulnerable, open-faced Ben Hirschhorn), apparently raised by a single mother, is gay and an alcoholic. His tough-minded Mom (Brenda Withers, strong and well differentiated in several roles) has turned him out of the house, frustrated by his unsuccessful attempts at rehab.
Feeling hopeless and helpless after a bender, unable to remember last night, Josh turns to his two sets of grandparents. “My brain is broken,” he says.
On his absentee Jewish father’s side, there’s the tough-minded grandma Bev, an electrical engineer (Pamela Reed in a focused, beautifully unfrilly performance); on his gentile mother’s side there’s gentle, fluttery Midwesterner Nana (an equally wonderful Barbara Kingsley), who, it turns out, has Alzheimer’s. (The terrible illness is portrayed throughout more honestly than I’ve seen in several movies.)
There’s also Nana’s quiet, controlled husband, Hank (Michael Cullen), and, on the Jewish side of the family, 83-year-old Shrimpy (Peter Van Wagner), who’s preparing for his ritual second bar mitzvah and struggling to memorize the necessary text from the Torah. Ever the goofball grandpa even under stress, he jokes to Josh, “How many Alzheimer’s patients does it take to screw in a lightbulb? To get to the other side!”
In Act 1, Josh makes it his personal mission to cure—or at least slow down—Nana’s Alzheimer’s, and, simultaneously, conquer his own addiction, by way of a whole slew of remedies: exercise, education, health foods and so on.
When the plot takes a sharp turn in Act 2, it’s a surprise. This play is perfectly encapsulated in two acts, with not a minute of wasted time.
There’s much to love. For example, scenic designer Afsoon Pajoufar’s exquisite photographic backdrop of a tree-ringed lake, a scene of peace and respite for Josh and his grandmother Bev that’s projected onto a curved screen and lit at various times of day by designer Alexander V. Nichols. It’s an elegant way to convey mood, and all that’s needed to frame this story.
Also notable: The several carefully delineated roles all played by Jeffrey Omura and the way the grandparents leap to bodily animate Josh’s ongoing narration to the audience; choreography is by Erika Chong Shuch.
And the authentic Hebrew-language ritual prayers (some audience members joined in on the call-and-response section on opening night) are a reminder of the joy of live performance.
“The Reservoir” is an unsparingly truthful play. Brasch has a truly theatrical insight into the humor and heartbreak of the human condition.
Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s “The Reservoir” continues through Oct. 12, 2025 at Peet’s Theatre, 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. Tickets are $25 to $140 at berkeleyrep.org.
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