If you can find the premise amusing, “Vigil,” now playing at the Mark Taper Forum, will reward you with many laughs. A young man receives a letter from his aunt that tells him she is dying and that she wishes him to come to her. The dutiful nephew takes time off from his job to be at the bedside of his dying relative. The problem is that the bedridden creature refuses to give up the ghost.
So “death” is the subject, and the comedy, written by Morris Panych, manages to milk the joke for all its worth. Marco Barricelli, who has 99 percent of the lines and delivers them like a stand-up comic, plays the nephew brilliantly.
The aunt, played beautifully by Olympia Dukakis, says little but acts with her eyes and her movements. Lying in bed in her nightie, she lives on in spite of all the blandishments of Barricelli. Days and nights go by, and, finally, act one goes by and Nephew is stuck. Without doing anything criminal, he tries to expedite the old lady’s voyage to the Great Beyond.
His conversation deals with the miserable life he has led as the ultimate loser. One of the more positive things he mentions is the fact that his father was a failed magician. During all this expostulation, Dukakis says not a word but listens with flattering interest.
Panych uses a great deal of skill to get mileage out of this untenable situation. Fortunately, the humor is good-natured and there are many surprises along the way.
The set, which looks like an attic filled with attic stuff, is agreeable since the most important item is the bed. Ken MacDonald is credited with the scenic design and costumes. What costumes?
The playwright himself served as director and must have been pleased to see his work brought to life in the hands of the two talented actors.