Have You Met Jane Goodall and her Mother?

Tweet

Who knew that a biographical play could be so witty, entertaining and charming? The latest EST/Sloan Project science play, Michael Walek’s Have You Met Jane Goodall and Her Mother? is one of the most enjoyable and enlightening comedies of the season. Using the actual facts of Goodall’s first trip to Tanganyika’s Gombe Stream Reserve in 1960 to observe chimpanzees in the wild, Walek creates a play that sticks close to the well documented facts but fills in the missing information with often amusing supposition. The title refers to the fact that the Tanganyika government (then ruled by the British) only allowed Jane to study in their game park as a woman alone if she had a chaperone – so she brought along her mother. Jane Goodall’s trip was arranging by famed palaeoanthropologist Louis Leakey for her to find the missing link between humans and chimps which she finally does just before the end of her four month first trip.

The format of the play is very imaginative: the characters narrate themselves, the number of days Jane has left of her four month stay is announced periodically, as are the number of days left until the national election, and the cast stops periodically to reveal the evidence for what is being dramatized. Tanya Orellana’s set design is a series of boxes, platforms and benches alternating in raw wood or painted in shades of green. The back of the set has an emerald green cloth across most of its length surrounded by unpainted wood which suggests a forest but also allows us to imagine Jane’s tent and the game warden’s office. The design concept also allows for quick transitions between the many scenes and locales starting in England and continuing in and around the Gombe Reserve.

We hear much of Jane’s fiancé Bill before she leaves England, but not much after. Ironically although she had neither the education nor the credentials for the trip, Jane’s mother Vanne proves to be very adaptable though her only previous job had been as secretary to London impresario Charles B. Cochran. The rest of the cast includes British game warden David Lancaster who has never conversed with one of the natives except in official business and Adolph Siwezi, who is assigned to follow Jane’s each and every move by the TAMU, the local Socialist authority who expect to win the upcoming national election. They are joined by crack animal tracker Soko “Short” Wilbur when Jane realizes she needs help in locating the chimps. Although all three men are named for real people in Goodall’s story, little is known about them and the author has filled in his own details.

While on Jane’s first day she saw ten chimps, she did not see another one for two months. Using her own devices until Short arrives to teach her how to track animals in the jungle, she eventually realizes that it is her scent that is keeping them away and she finally has to let them get acclimated to her by sleeping in the jungle near their feeding and resting places. Her mother, on the other hand, is ordered to report to the game warden’s office every day and sit at a desk in the window in order to dispel the misbelief by the populace that the two women are spies.

Not only does Vanne teach herself Swahili, she makes friends with the natives, something David has not been able to do in 15 years. Eventually she wins him over with her stories of the London theater when she worked for Cochran. Adolph, on the other hand, is very much involved in the coming election which will free Tanganyika from Britain and is always spouting his naive Socialist philosophy. Ironically, Walek has made all of the men gay and develops a relationship between Adolph and Short, while David and Vanne become close friends. Jane’s discovery eventually changes the definition of what it means to be human, a major advance in the study of primates. Among the memorable comic business are Jane’s attempt to explain her limited credentials to the game warden, Adolph’s explanation of his first name, Short’s thinking he is needed to shoot the chimps, and Vanne’s obvious exaggeration of her time with Cochran turning Noel Coward into a bosom buddy.

Under the smooth and economic direction of Linsay Firman, Brittany K. Allen is fine as the moody and perplexed Jane Goodall around whom the whole story revolves. Her moods vary as she has to deal with a job somewhat over her head and previous training and working with nothing but eccentric personalities. However, the comic revelation of the play is veteran stage, screen and television actress Kristin Griffith who is enchanting as Jane’s mother in banter with her daughter and the other characters as well as her resourcefulness. With a graceful and refined air, she demonstrates that she would make an excellent addition to any revival of the plays of Bernard Shaw or Coward. Tommy Heleringer is amusing as the lonely but patronizing British game warden for whom nothing is good enough. Youthful Jordan Donaldson’s Adolph retains his innocence and staunch beliefs. The rather androgynous Rami Margron confidently plays a series of characters from the vain Bill to the conceited Short to the celebrated Louis Leakey.

The rather muted costumes by Suzanne Chesney are excellent for characters who neither care how they dress nor want to stand out in the forest. The subtle lighting changes by Reza Behjat always focus our attention on the correct place on stage. Sound designer Kathy Ruvuna’s periodic work reminds us that we are in the jungle, while Lake Simons’ one puppet for a giant chimp towards the end of the play is a major contribution to the story. Michael Walek’s Have You Met Jane Goodall and Her Mother? will not only have you talking all the way home, but will make you want to read the letters and autobiographies of this remarkable woman who turned herself into a scientist during a 65 year career, one that she is still engaged in at age 90 years old. This is one of the few recent plays that you will be sorry when it is over.

Have You Met Jane Goodall and Her Mother? (through March 30, 2025)

Ensemble Studio Theatre and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

EST, 545 W. 52^nd Street, in Manhattan

For tickets, visit http://www.ESTNYC.org

Running time: two hours and 35 minutes including one intermission