Compassion Is in Short Supply at This Grief Support Group

The Irish literary critic Vivian Mercier once wrote that “Waiting for Godot” is “a play in which nothing happens, twice.” Domenica Feraud’s “Someone Spectacular,” with its own missing Godot-like figure, is a play in which nothing happens, six times.

The nothing, in this case, refers mainly to the plot: Six members of a grief support group sit in a circle and wait for their counselor, Beth, to show up. Ten minutes pass. Then 20. Someone halfheartedly suggests they play a game; someone else speculates that Beth might have died, which gets a lungless laugh from a group member. Another belatedly wonders aloud: Should they even be talking without the mediating presence of their counselor?

A modest proposal from Julian (Shakur Tolliver), who is grieving his aunt’s death, to start breathing exercises is roundly ignored, as is an idea to vote for a “Replacement Beth.” Nelle (Alison Cimmet), who is allergic to the idea of wasting time, proposes a vote on whether to proceed with the meeting sans Beth or disband. After some wrangling — “No one here is qualified to lead a session,” gripes the youngest attendee, Jude (Delia Cunningham) — votes are tallied. The yeas outnumber the nays.

So: Progress?

Not a snowflake’s chance in hell. In this meticulously crafted play, partly inspired by the death of Feraud’s mother, each attempt to begin the meeting is quickly derailed.

When the matronly Evelyn (Gamze Ceylan), who has a worrisome cough, sensibly suggests a group check-in, she’s promptly dismissed. Only Jude, who is mourning a miscarriage, takes the invitation seriously; her “grief is at a 5 today. Maybe a 6. It gets worse at night, I’m not sure why.” Yet she’s immediately upstaged by Lily (Ana Cruz Kayne, flop sweatingly fine), a retired actress who thinks she killed her mom. Lily’s grief is at a 10, she says, because it’s always at a 10: “Every day I wake up shocked I haven’t killed myself. Happy?”