Mostly Waning

Theatergoer, take heed of the phrase “a speculation” on the program for An Error of the Moon. Luigi Creatore’s new play, about 19th-century actors and brothers Edwin and John Wilkes Booth (yes, that John Wilkes Booth) has little relation to historical fact other than the very basics.

Weaving a tapestry of madness and envy, Creatore re-imagines Edwin Booth, played here by Erik Heger, as a diabolically jealous husband who suspects that his wife Mary (Margaret Copeland) is having an illicit affair with his brother John (Andrew Veenstra). For 80 minutes, Edwin recounts his marriage and his brother’s increasingly frenzied attempts to punish Abraham Lincoln for his transgressions against the South, slipping further into insanity and cuing plenty of Othello references. At his lowest point, Creatore’s Edwin asks Mary—on her deathbed—if their daughter is really his.

Heger turns out to be a surprisingly capable performer, turning Creatore’s 2-dimensional Edwin into a tortured man who can’t even find comfort in the ghost of his wife. When the play hews closer to history—as when John Wilkes discusses his plans to kidnap Lincoln—the play and the performances turn engrossing. Too often, though, Edwin rages and raves over some perceived clue that his brother is making a cuckhold of him, while the wan Mary simpers and flutters.

Copeland doesn’t have much else to do as the much put-upon Mary, but she also doesn’t bring much to the role. Mary is either sickeningly sweet or hurt, with very little gradation between the two. And though Veenstra is a dynamic physical presence (his sword fight with Heger is both tense and witty), we know that no matter how boyishly charming his John Wilkes, the character doesn’t come to a good end.

Somewhat surprisingly for a show in the lower level of Theatre Row, the set from Steven Capone and Alixandra Gage Englund’s costumes are sumptuous and arresting—particularly Capone’s crooked door and sideways chandelier, dangling tantalizingly in mid-air.

Director Kim Weild keeps things moving swiftly, but there’s little to be done with Creatore’s repetitive script. Edwin is suspicious, then angry, then filled with remorse. Wash, rinse and repeat, with a few segues into intrigue (Edwin tricks his brother’s friend, played by Brian Wallace in one of several roles, into bringing him John’s diary) and a slight history of 19th-century American theater and the Civil War. But Creatore has written Edwin as a borderline sociopath, one with whom it is difficult to identify or empathize. Blessed with a thriving career and a devoted wife, this fictional Edwin is so hell-bent on self-sabotage that, Creatore suggests, he deliberately allows John Wilkes to act on his desire to exact revenge on Lincoln. What’s most unsettling is that John feels like the most stable Booth brother by show’s end.

An Error of the Moon

Open run, Theatre Row, 410 W. 42nd St. (betw. 9th & 10th Aves.), 212-239-6200; $50.