George Street Playhouse explores the relationship between Lee Harvey Oswald and his mother in "Mama's Boy" starring Betsy Aidem
The irony of taking on the role of Marguerite Oswald, the mother of a presidential assassin, after starring as Lady Bird Johnson on Broadway is not lost on actress Betsy Aidem. She was appearing in "All the Way" opposite Bryan Cranston's LBJ when, in 2014, she first read the part in "Mama's Boy," the 2015 play currently having its regional premiere at the George Street Playhouse.
The lives of both women were irrevocably changed when Lee Harvey Oswald shot and killed President John F. Kennedy in 1963 and both plays touch on that historic time. But while Lady Bird became a beloved First Lady known for her efforts to beautify the country, Marguerite emerged as one of the most loathed women of her time, despised not only for raising a killer but for refusing to accept her son's guilt and ceaselessly fighting to clear his name.
"The information and events are the same, but they're refracted through a completely different lens," Aidem said, in a recent interview with NJ Advance Media. "The most important thing about the play is this historic event is told through a family dynamic that I don't think a lot of people knew about."
"Mama's Boy" tells the story of the dysfunctional Oswald family: Marguerite, a mother of three sons, didn't hide the fact that Lee Harvey was her favorite child. Her treatment of her golden child contrasts with how she treats the play's other characters, Robert, another son, and Lee's wife, Marina. The first act focuses on the family's life before the assassination, ending with gunshots. The second includes Marguerite's fight to clear her son's name, which she kept up until her death in 1981.
"She was psychologically murderous to her children. They were so dysfunctional that you can't fathom anyone remained standing," Aidem said. "She had three sons and six grandchildren and she was completely alone at the end of her life, a complete pariah."
Director David Saint, who this year is celebrating his 20th year as George Street's Artistic Director, was introduced to the play by Aidem, who played Marguerite when "Mama's Boy" premiered at Maine's Good Theater in October 2015. He was eager to again work with the actress, whom he directed in George Street's "Jolson Sings Again" in 1999 and "God of Carnage" in 2011.
Marguerite, he said, can be compared to two other monstrous mother stage personas, the delusional and nagging Amanda in Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie" and Medea of Euripides' play of the same name, who kills her children to hurt her ex-husband.
Marguerite "was too much of a mother in some cases," he said. "She adored Lee and smothered him with affection. She was so involved in his life that he fought to keep her out of everything he was thinking and doing."
Aidem deftly brings out the character's humanity, he said.
"You can't play a villain as a villain. The actor has to find a way in and find a way to empathize," he said. "No one thinks of themselves as a villain. They think they're fighting for a cause."
Because this is only the piece's second staging, Saint and the four person cast have worked closely with playwright Rob Urbinati as he tweaks and changes the work before it's published. He described the work as "riveting drama" that can also be quite funny. Some of Aidem's lines are things the actual Oswald actually said.
"You laugh at the outrageousness of this character and the things she says to her children and everyone," he said. "It is funny and then, of course, it takes a very tragic turn."
The timing of the George Street staging, before the Nov. 8 presidential election, was planned, Saint said. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has brought up conspiracies against him throughout his campaign and there's no bigger collection of conspiracy theories than those surrounding JFK's assassination.
"Many of our audience members and subscribers say the drive home after any performance is always filled with conversation," he said. "This play will generate a lot of conversations for days to come."
Mama's Boy
George Street Playhouse
9 Livingston Ave., New Brunswick
Tickets: From $40, by telephone (732) 246-7717 or online at www.GSPonline.org; through Nov. 6.
Natalie Pompilio is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia. She can be reached at nataliepompilio@yahoo.com. Find her on Twitter @nataliepompilio. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook.