THE SUM OF US
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The Sum of Us brilliantly exposes the difficulty of the father-son relationship, but in a very subtle way. Playwright David Stevens pushes this aspect of the play into the background, and puts in the foreground a simple bittersweet story about two men looking for love–men who just happen to be father and son. He further downplays the tension between the two men by giving them what seems to be an ideal father-son relationship.
Harry, a widower, is jovial and seemingly free of the paternal compulsion to criticize and control his son Jeff. “He’s as much a friend as a son,” Harry says during one of his confidential chats with the audience. He’s so uncritical that he even accepts the fact that his son is a homosexual. “He’s what you might call cheerful,” Harry says. “I can’t bear that other word. He’s been like that since . . . well . . . since he was born, I suppose. I didn’t want him to turn out that way, of course, but I think I always knew somehow. . . . So I think we both accepted the fact as a natural part of life, and got on with living.”
Griffin has shaped his actors’ performances beautifully. The unspoken attitudes of the characters never jump out of the background, but they provide a jolting contrast to the sweet, simple action of the foreground.
