"Proof," the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by David Auburn, was adopted into a great 2005 movie starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anthony Hopkins and Hope Davis. "Proof" is the intensely emotional and amusing story of Catherine, a young woman who struggles with the question of her own mental stability.
Directed by Manu Mukasa, the Amherst production is the senior acting project of Catherine Macdonald '07E and Bill Unsworth '07E.
Catherine (Macdonald) has dropped out of college and given up her life in order to care for her father, Robert. Robert is a brilliant mathematics professor at the University of Chicago who has slipped into mental decline. Flashbacks inform the audience that Catherine has lived with her father during the last few years of his life. Robert's sudden death, the point at which "Proof" begins, confronts Catherine with the possibility that she has inherited his mathematical genius, as well as his mental illness. His death brings Claire, Catherine's estranged sister (Honora Talbott '07) back into Catherine's life. In addition, Robert has left behind a stack of notebooks filled with incoherent writings that attract the curiosity of his graduate student, Hal (Unsworth). When Hal discovers a groundbreaking proof in one of Robert's drawers, he, Catherine and Claire fall into a heated debate over its authorship.
Set in modern-day Chicago on the porch of Catherine's house, the play is comprised of cleverly written dialogues laced with subtle jokes that play on the meanings of mathematical terms. Despite the mathematical nature of its title and dialogue, "Proof" isn't simply about math. Math is only the pretext, through which the characters communicate family conflict, wit, intelligence, humor, irony, love, fear and insecurity.
The production's design elements are artistic achievements in how they visually mesmerize the audience and mirror the ideas strewn throughout "Proof." The background lighting of inverted prisms, shifting occasionally into interlocking squares, subtly reflects the conflicts in the characters' relationships with each other. The set consists of two armchairs and sliding glass doors that lead into Catherine's house, as well as a table surrounded by chairs and wooden benches near the porch steps. By using a bare setting, Mukasa allows the audience to appreciate and focus on the intellectual wit and complexity of the dialogue, presented and reinforced by the cast's outstanding performances.
Macdonald's portrayal of Catherine splendidly highlights the character's fragility, wihch is brought out by her doubts about her own brilliance and timidity regarding Hal's affection. Her awkward posture and nervous gestures aptly capture Catherine's insecurity. It is almost agonizing to watch her defensively crossing and re-crossing her arms, averting her face and constantly pushing back her hair while asserting, "No. I'm not crazy." Overall, Macdonald's performance is captivating. But, in certain moments when she is alone with Robert, she could have appeared more confident in order to come across more convincingly as the awkwardly brilliant daughter who is strong enough to take care of her father despite her own emotional insecurity.
Talbott is equally commendable in her role as the hilariously nonchalant yet concerned sister who feels obligated to take care of her younger sibling. Her patronizing confidence presents a comedic contrast to Catherine's moody and volatile nature.
Lobdell is perfect as Robert. Affectionate but demanding, he is preoccupied with trying to hold on to what is left of his intellect. He also pushes Catherine to use her talents and worries about her lack of a social life. Lobdell's success lies in the fact that he balances the intensity in Robert's character with playful aloofness. In one moment, he chides Catherine for wasting her time and even screams at her in fury when she refuses to read his work. In another moment, he half-seriously tells Hal, "You'll be teaching younger and more irritating versions of yourself in no time."
Unsworth adds to the humor in the play with his remarkable performance as Hal. At first glance, he bears some resemblance to Gyllenhall in the film version of "Proof" because of his brown hair and heavy beard. However, unlike Gyllenhall, Unsworth appears adorably geeky with his shoulders withdrawn, his hands on his thighs and his relaxed but awkward gait. His relationship with Catherine relays a message that is at the center of the play, a message of the complexity and unpredictability of life.
"Proof" shows that contrary to mathematics, the important aspects of life, such as trust and love, are impossible to prove because they are beyond the simple clarity of logic. It is an enthralling drama that centers on the mysterious authorship of the proof, the difficulty of learning to trust and the struggle to find self-confidence.