Birthday Candles is as Smart as it is Movingly Beautiful.
Currently Playing at North Coast REP Until June 29
North Coast Repertory Theatre hosts the San Diego premiere of Noah Haidle’s Birthday Candles. A play that touches upon life, growing old, and family, all while baking a birthday cake.
It’s Ernestine’s (Margot White) seventeenth birthday. Her mom, Alice (Katie Karel), is baking a cake and wants Ernestine to learn the recipe so she can start with the yearly tradition. Kenneth (James Newcomb), the family neighbor, also attends Ernestine’s school and frequently drops by unexpectedly. In a sigh, years have passed, and Ernestine has created a family with her husband, Matt (Martin Kildare), and two kids: Billy (Matthew Grondin) and Madeline (Katie Karel), along with a goldfish named Atman. One day, Billy brings Joan (Emelie O’Hara) home so she can meet the family. More birthday cakes are baked along with the sugar, the spice, and sometimes the stale parts of life.
David Ellenstein directs a vibrant and well-connected cast that breezes through the decades in less than two hours. Although I read in an interview Noah Haidle did that he “straight up stole the conceit of Thornton Wilder’s A Long Christmas Dinner (Actually The Long Christmas Dinner) and used it for Birthday Candles”, I still think his writing is thoughtful and heartfelt.
The actors playing the children also interpret different family members across the generations. Katie Karel plays from Ernestine’s mom, to her daughter, to her granddaughter, which I thought was a very creative way to resolve the story. Emelie O’Hara also goes from Ernestine’s daughter-in-law to her granddaughter. Another interesting aspect is that James Newcomb, Martin Kildare, and Margot White play their characters from their teenage years to young adulthood to senior years, rather than having different-aged actors portray each role. This gave the play an authenticity that was appreciated as everything else unfolded.
The play features beautiful metaphors that effectively resolve brutal scenes, handled with great skill. Truly, there are various one-on-one scenes with Ernestine, and each character enhances her story. Margot White and Katie Karel delivered charged emotion with poise and grace. Matthew Grondin, as his character matures, has an eye-opening exchange with his mom, as well as Martin Kildare, with raw emotion and tenderness. James Newcomb wins the audience’s heart, and I believe this is some of his best work. Emelie O’Hara has precise delivery and intention. Margot White, recipient of a Craig Noel award this year, showed her acting ability once more.
Each actor shone brightly, and together they created something pure—no one faltered, no one was out of place.
A real cake is prepared and baked throughout the performance, at a point where the baked good’s aroma starts to enchant the theatre.
Marty Burnett’s set design of a family kitchen and dining area reminded me of The Heart Sellers. I appreciated how the actors moved around the space as they entered and exited the stage. Matthew Novotny’s lighting is key for various monologues and one-on-one moments, while the years pass, supported by Ian Scot’s sound that timed each year’s passing move. Of course, if a cake is being baked while a performance is happening, the props have to be front and center, and Michael Wogulis delivered from the basic (real) ingredients, gifting a tad of Mukbang for the new generations as well. Danita Lee’s costumes gave the family members a changing flair that was exciting to see, as each outfit encompassed a range of styles, from denim to corduroy, skirts, and pants, along with Peter Herman’s hair and wig design, which evolved to include buns, hair down, and a blue ribbon.
Birthday Candles will touch each fiber of whoever sees it. To top it off, birthday goods are available for purchase at the theatre, along with other pleasant surprises that will remain unmentioned.
Currently playing until June 29th. For more information, please click HERE.
Phil Gold is the stage manager for this play.
