Playwright: Terrence McNally. At: Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie. Tickets: 847-673-6300; www.northlight.org; $25-$79. Runs through: Feb. 27
The title is not Mothers and Gay Sons. The setting, in a married gay household, is almost secondary although it's reflective of Terrence McNally as a gay man. Yes, we learn the play's mother, Katherine Gerard ( Cindy Gold ), is homophobic and repulsed by gay sexuality, but by that point in the play it, too, becomes secondary. It's really about parenting, which is why it's important that married husbands Cal Porter ( Jeff Parker ) and Will Ogden ( Benjamin Sprunger ) have a son, Bud Ogden-Porter ( Ben Miller ).
The program says this play grew from a 1988 short sketch that examined two survivors of an AIDS-related death: the mother, Katherine, and the lover, Cal. Mothers and Sons picks up 20 years later, with Katherine paying a surprise visit to Cal, now happily married and a parent. Katherine seethes with anger at Cal, her dead son Andre and herself. The AIDS terror briefly is revisited, Cal noting that Andre put him at risk and a generation perished, but the play's focus is love and nurturing. Katherine is a hard case, convinced she cannot love or be loved and monumentally resentful that her gifted son found love with Cal, and that Cal has found love and family with Will. "There is not another Andre," she says. "I want revenge!"
Katherine reveals she married for social advancement not love, aborted a second child ( to punish her husband or keep Andre tied to her? ) and is convinced that Andre never loved her. All her parenting failures ( as she sees them ) are countered by what we see of Cal, Will and precocious almost-seven Bud, who literally embraces Katherine with openness as a grandmother figure. Similar to other recent plays, Mothers and Sons portrays a gay couple doing a better job at heteronormative marriage and family than heteros.
Katherine is tragic. As do so many mothers, she knew her son was gay before he came out. When Andre was crying over his dying father, Katherine recalls, she said to him "'You're crying for what you are.' Can you imagine a mother saying that to her child?" Like the blind Oedipus living out his life as a beggar, Katherine has pronounced judgment on herself for her love failures and made herself untouchable.
McNally packs a great deal into 100 minutes, and each beat is clearly and forcefully played under director Steve Scott. Through moments comic or bristling Cindy Gold preserves her prickly exterior, defying likeability and never seeking pity. Parker and Sprunger skillfully move from affable to conflicted to desperate dealing with their uninvited guest. Young Master Miller is confident, charming and natural. This production made me consider my own mother and partnerand how fortunate I have been in having both.