Living room set on stage with sofa, furniture and low lighting.

Marine Saint

As the Broadway stage opens onto Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ tense family drama Appropriate, the audience is encouraged to question exactly what this word means.

The first thing the audience sees when taking their seat for the latest show at the Hayes Theatre on Broadway is a large projection screen. Emblazoned across it is the definition of the word “Appropriate.” This word also lends itself to the title of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Obie (Off-Broadway) award-winning dark comedy, originally staged in 2014.

The screen reminds us that “appropriate” comes with a plethora of meanings. From describing something suitable, to something belonging to a person, to a means to set apart or take possession.

It is through the multiplicity of this word’s meaning – posing questions of morality and ownership in the process – that we descend upon Jacob-Jenkins’ tense family drama.

Appropriate throws the audience into the unexpected reunion of the three Lafayette siblings at their father’s ancestral home in southeast Arkansas. The fading glory of the house is apparent from the opening moments. A cluster of boxes, children’s toys and books clutter the corners of the stage.

We become immersed in one dysfunctional family’s revelations about their deceased father and the disturbing history of the home in which he spent the last decade of his life.

The Death Of Family Ties

“…a complex scrutinisation of the death of family ties that can be easily followed.”

With sudden blackouts and tense, breakneck arguments exploding between the siblings as they organise the sale of the home and its endless belongings, it would be easy to lose track of the plot. But what Jacob-Jenkins’ fast-paced script and Lila Neugebauer’s masterful directing accomplish is a complex scrutinisation of the death of family ties that can be easily followed.

What begins as a family affair – including the surprising return of the estranged youngest brother Franz (Michael Esper) on the eve of the sale – quickly becomes an investigation into the house’s troubling past as a former plantation. The catalyst for this is a single prop – a photo album, which contains disturbing insights into the family’s history.

A Star-Studded Cast

Jacob-Jenkins’ Broadway playwriting debut at the Hayes Theatre officially opened on 18th December, and has since extended its run of Appropriate to 3rd March 2024.

Appropriate stars Emmy Award winner Sarah Paulson as lead, who is returning to the stage after ten years of Hollywood success to play eldest sibling Toni, the executor of her father’s estate.

Paulson’s first entrance on stage incited a rapturous response from the audience. This was thoroughly deserved in her performance as the fiercely ruthless, bitter, and heartbroken Toni. This play also marks a return to Paulson’s theatre roots, with her first Off-Broadway show Killer Joe equally centring around a conflicted family.

Paulson’s character acts as the primary tie between her two brothers Franz and Bo (Corey Stroll). The trio have lost touch in recent years, and come to the impromptu family reunion with their children and partners in tow. This includes Franz’s pointedly far junior girlfriend River, played with great conviction by Elle Fanning.

In her Broadway debut, Fanning successfully embodies the persistent but slightly eccentric River, who pushes Franz to stake his claim on his father’s estate. Each character seems to represent a different stage of the disintegration of family life, from Toni’s troubled teenage son Rhys (Graham Campbell) to the middle sibling Bo’s emerging financial crisis.

A Successful Second Act

While we learn that Toni is the final link to the property and even between the extended family, it is a worn and fractured relationship that shows little sign of healing. There are also moments of intimacy in the second act, which are a welcome break amidst the family’s chaos. In these moments, you hope Toni’s redemption will come about sooner so as to expand her role beyond the instigator of relentless arguments.

“[Appropriate] practically satirizes the notion of turning points, so frequent and horrifying are each character’s revelations”

We ultimately see the Lafayettes forced to reckon with how their upbringing profoundly affected their adult lives, and how to prevent their mistakes from carrying on to the next generation.

Jacobs-Jenkins crucially makes us question how this family can confront their ties to slavery and misconceptions of their past. The playwright cites other iconic American family dramas intersecting race and family legacy as inspiration, just like those of Tennessee Williams, Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, or Tracey Letts’ August: Osage County.

Masterful Denouement

It’s no surprise then that Paulson committed to the play back in 2021 after first reading the script. “It was one of the best things I read in any medium, in a very long time,” Paulson told Playbill.

The gripping family affair practically satirises the notion of turning points, so frequent and horrifying are each character’s revelations. Appropriate defines what it is to be a theatrical triumph with its ending, which, without giving away any spoilers, combines excellent visual and lighting design (by Jane Cox and Scenic Designer dots) in a uniquely eerie and cinematic way, thus bringing the play to a fittingly uncertain close.

Following its preview, Appropriate was named The New York Times’ Critics Choice, an accolade it most certainly lives up to.

Produced by Second Stage Theatre, the only Broadway stage dedicated solely to productions of living American playwrights, Jacobs-Jenkins’ tour de force of devastatingly funny and morbid family legacy is a definite must-see.

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Featured image courtesy of Pete Guither via Flickr. No changes have been made to this image. Image licence found here.

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