'You Got Older' review: Clare Barron mines for grief in the small talk

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By Emily Chackerian

According to playwright Clare Barron, You Got Older was written “in the middle of a personal crisis.” So it’s not a surprise when her protagonist, Mae, tells a cute stranger that she’s experiencing “the second worst moment of my life so far.” Mae has broken up with her boyfriend and lost her job, her dad is undergoing cancer treatment, her sister has a cyst, and she herself has a gnarly rash. She’s also “horny as hell.” Suffice to say, there’s plenty on her plate.

Originally produced in 2014 and now revived at the Cherry Lane Theatre, You Got Older is a tender exploration of a family coping with tragedy. Mae (a likable Alia Shawkat) pushes through her days by cracking jokes, avoiding conversations about the future, and indulging in erotic fantasies about a cowboy. Her dad (Peter Friedman) has taken up gardening. Friedman gives an exquisite performance, always casual in his conversation, while his face betrays quiet devastation. Mae’s siblings also make brief appearances, similarly fighting internal battles between maintaining normalcy and giving into grief.

(l-r) Peter Friedman and Alia Shawkat in "You Got Older." — (l-r) Peter Friedman and Alia Shawkat in “You Got Older.” Photo by Marc J. Franklin.

Where small talk meets quiet devastation

It’s a testament to both Barron and director Anne Kauffman that You Got Older never gets lost along the way. Kauffman, who also directed the original production, has a sharp sense of when to veer from comedy to tragedy (and vice versa), with pivots that aren’t too jarring. Kauffman also makes the most of her design team, with moments enhanced by Arnulfo Maldonado’s sleek sliding set and Isabella Byrd’s smart lighting.

You Got Older feels similar to a slew of new works, with comfortable, naturalistic scenes mixed with heightened, lyrical dreamscapes like Geffen Playhouse’s Sylvia, Sylvia, Sylvia and Playwrights Horizons’ The Dinosaurs. But this play isn’t new, and its stylistic familiarity is a sign of Barron’s influence on the modern playwriting landscape. For Mae, the future is unclear, but if one thing is certain, it’s that Barron is always a writer to watch.