Theater Online - New York Theater Reviews

"They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.”

James Leynse ©2025  Isabel Keating as Lydia

So begins “This Be The Verse” by the British poet Philip Larkin, the meaning of which eventually figures into Cusi Cram’s ambitious but fatally flawed “A Lifetime Burning” at 59E59 Theaters. Can this explain why a sister would fictionalize her own memoir, knowing that eventually she will be found out“ If not, can it be explained by bi-polar disorder? Does it matter why the memoir was fictionalized in the first place? Or, is the more compelling question, not explored in this play, does the truth matter?

James Leynse ©2025  Raul Castillo as Alejandro and Jennifer Westfeldt as Emma

Emma (Jennifer Westfeldt) a troubled, trust-fund orphan with no direction or job, volunteers weekly as a tutor for minority students, in the hope they will obtain their GED. While doing so, in her self-pitying state, she identifies with them so much, she wonders, what if I had a more compelling story, a more “palatable version of myself”? She is introduced to Lydia Freemantle, a Nan Talese-like publisher (the glorious Isabel Keating, who relishes every minute of a plum part), and is persuaded to write a memoir, as, Lydia says, “I am not interested in your novel. I am interested in you. I can sell you.”

Emma takes the large advance and runs: to Jimmy Choo, Eva Zeisel, and other brand names too extensive to name here. She re-decorates her apartment and then, to her dismay, is outed by her outraged sister Tess (Christina Kirk) who has problems of her own: a bitter ex-husband, angry twins, a taste for younger men, and a bad case of sibling rivalry, which seems to be the crux of this play, sidestepping the issue of truth. To draw a parallel between the sisters and illustrating they are not so different, there are revelations that Tess has slept with her young male nanny, and Emma has slept with one of her young male students, Alejandro (Raul Castillo). It is hardly a fair comparison. Tess will have to live with the consequences of ruining her marriage and the wrath of her children; Emma, meanwhile, has violated not only the rules of teaching, she has used her young student and has learned nothing in the process. Alejandro comes out none the wiser. On top of that, Tess has also lied to her publisher, her public, the New York Times, and falsified her entire life.

James Leynse ©2025  Christina Kirk as Tess and Jennifer Westfeldt as Emma

Why does the truth matter? Think about the world in which we live: why was there such a public outcry over James Frey’s memoir? Why were people so incensed that he had fictionalized his own life? Why is it that our own lives seem so inconsequential to us that we have to fictionalize, and then sell it as fact? If Ms. Cram had identified this as the crux of the matter (as this story is based on fact) rather than concentrating on the sibling rivalry angle, it would have been an interesting play. As it stands, the best lines belong to Oscar Wilde, T.S. Eliot (for the title), Philip Larkin, Keats, with allusions to Elizabeth Bishop and Sylvia Plath. That they are brilliant, there is no doubt. But if it is their words I leave the theatre thinking about, then Ms. Cram has to investigate the truth further, and come up with her own insights.