Scarcity

****

Atlantic Stage

Jesse Eisenberg, the young actor who so brilliantly held his own against the likes of Jeff Daniels and Lara Linney in the film The Squid And The Whale , proves yet again with his intense multi-dimensional performance in Lucy Thurber's absorbing new drama, Scarcity, that there is no question we have a very special and confident actor here. With an awkward, quavering tone, his character slyly feels his way through this play figuring out just what he can and can't get away with as he is pulled in all directions by his mother, father, sister and teacher. Taking place in rural Massachusetts this play was all about the smart poor kid trying to find a way out of the drunken destitute environment he has been raised in. Happily the play works very well and Kristen Johnston and Michael T. Weiss as drunk mommy and drunk daddy crank out a couple of very impressive performances of their own. This is a recommender.