PROOF: A FATHER, A DAUGHTER, AND THE COURAGE TO PERFORM
REVIEW: PROOF
BY RYAN M. LUEVANO
Catherine has inherited her late father’s mathematical brilliance and, she fears, the mental illness that unraveled him. Caught between a new connection with Hal, one of her father’s former students, and the reappearance of her estranged sister Claire, Catherine’s grip on her own mind grows shakier by the hour. David Auburn’s Pulitzer and Tony-winning Proof returns to the stage for four performances only, July 23–26, at the El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood, produced by Jason Jeske and starring real-life father and daughter Ed Begley Jr and Hayden Begley a run staged as a benefit for the Michael J. Fox Foundation, marking the tenth anniversary of Begley’s Parkinson’s diagnosis.
Stuart Rogers’ direction is simple and effective, never getting in the way of Auburn’s tightly wound family drama. He resists the urge to over-stage a play built on long, intimate conversations, trusting the text and his actors to carry the emotional weight. It’s a disciplined choice, and it pays off in the play’s most searching scenes.
The design work is a mixed bag. Matt Richter’s lighting brilliantly conveys Chicago’s changing seasons with real subtlety, marking time and mood in ways the script leaves unspoken. Joel Daavid’s scenic design constructs a beautiful facade of a house, and the idea of pulling it apart to reflect the shift between past and present is a clever one, but the execution onstage was noisy and distracting, pulling focus at moments that call for stillness.
The performances are where this production truly earns its stakes. Ed Begley Jr’s portrayal of Robert is astounding and brave: playing a character with Parkinson’s while managing his own real battle with the disease is an act of vulnerability rarely seen on a stage. There’s nothing performative about it, the tremor and the toll are lived-in, and the choice to bring that truth into the role, ten years into his own diagnosis, makes for a genuinely inspiring performance. Hayden Begley, as Catherine, offers work that is layered and multifaceted, drawing out her character’s anxiety, grief and listlessness in early scenes before revealing a hard-won change, a newfound confidence and a deepened connection to her father, found through her own mathematical gift. She builds a fully lived-in character, giving audiences a glimpse of both Catherine’s inner turmoil and the vibrance underneath it, and the real-life bond between father and daughter gives their scenes together an added, unmistakable charge.
This is a beautiful production in service of an important cause, one that shows the power of art to transcend illness of the body, never more evident than in Begley’s courageous performance.
MORE INFORMATION:
WHEN:
Thursday, July 23 at 8:00 pm; Friday, July 24 at 8:00 pm (Special VIP “Proof for Parkinson’s” — An Evening with Ed Begley Jr Benefit Night); Saturday, July 25 at 8:00 pm; Sunday, July 26 at 7:00 pm. Approximate running time: 2 hours with a 10-minute intermission.
WHERE:
The El Portal Theatre is located at 5269 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, CA 91601.
HOW:
Tickets range from $50–$85; students $35; special VIP tickets $100 and $150. CLICK HERE for Tickets or call the box office at (818) 508-4200 or (866) 811-4111. All proceeds benefit the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
DONATE
Donate to Michael J. Fox Foundation here: https://give.michaeljfox.org/fundraiser/7362487
