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Cradle and All
Daniel Goldfarb’s New Parenthood Play at MTC
Every couple with children can remember the ups and downs of having a newborn infant, but now the long, sleepless nights and restless cries of baby have been molded into the artistic focus of a play stealing center stage at the Manhattan Theatre Club.
Cradle and All is the newest play written by Daniel Goldfarb (Sarah, Sarah; Modern Orthodox) and directed by Tony Award nominee Sam Buntrock (Sunday in the Park With George). The production offers a new, witty examination of “love, sex, commitment and parenthood” through the stories of two couples who live in adjacent Brooklyn Heights apartments.
In an interview with the New York Times, Goldfarb says his play is about dealing with the difficulties couples have with prioritizing their relationships after having kids. “If you don’t invest in your relationship, it will run out of steam. At the same time, to see your spouse parent your child can be really romantic.” The Associated Press describes the performance as a “cut-to-the-bone look at how babies – those little apparent bundles of joy – can sometimes more easily resemble grenades, exposing secrets their parents want hidden and straining relationships to the breaking point.”
Cradle and All opens in one of the Brooklyn Heights apartments where couple Claire and Luke find themselves losing sleep as they try to decide whether or not they should marry and start a family of their own. Next door, a second couple, Annie and Nate, are unable to sleep at night due to their new baby, whose crying keeps them awake and links the two couples together during the play. While the baby is only heard from offstage and never seen, Claire and Luke can hear its cries through the thin apartment walls, escalating the tension and emotion of their own situation. In the end, “No one will rest until the truth between each of these couples is spoken.”
The four characters in Cradle and All are portrayed by only two performers, with each couple’s story taking up one entire act. Tony nominee Maria Dizzia (In The Next Room, or The Vibrator Play; The Drunken City) plays the roles of Annie and Claire, while Greg Keller (33 Variations in Los Angeles, The Seagull at CSC) portrays Nate and Luke.
Also involved in creating Cradle and All were Neil Patel, scenic design; Mattie Ullrich, costume design; Ken Billington, lighting design; and Jill BC DuBoff, sound design.
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