(Ben Brantley’s article appeared in The New York Times, 4/12.)
Just listen to them. That’s the implicit request made, rather shyly at first, by “A Slow Air,” David Harrower’s quietly moving new play. But it’s not long before that request has assumed the clout of an irresistible command. And you think, “But how could I not listen?”
That response is hardly guaranteed by your first impressions of the grudge-bearing, middle-aged brother and sister at the center of this 80-minute drama, which opened on Thursday night as part of Scotland Week at 59E59 Theaters. If either of the play’s two monologuists, Athol (Lewis Howden) or Morna (Susan Vidler), buttonholed you on a bus and started speaking as he or she does here, you’d most likely keep nodding politely while your mind roved to more vital subjects, like your tax returns or what you’re having for dinner.