In her late 30s when the play begins, Li’l Bit looks back on her teenage years as wistfully as Tom Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie. This throws the darker moments into high relief. And as in The Baltimore Waltz and other of her works, Vogel isn’t afraid to throw in moments that are funny, or sometimes even silly. The more thought-provoking aspect of the play is why, after it does happen, Li’l Bit encourages him to spend more time with her, safely away from the suspicious glances of the rest of the family.Īll this could have been too difficult to sit through, but Vogel skips backward and forward in time, pausing here and there to reveal something important about her characters.
Only part of the dramatic tension comes from the question of how he could have taken advantage of his niece. Vogel, who won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for this play, is more interested in exploring the relationship between Uncle Peck and Li’l Bit and how it takes its toll on both of them. How I Learned to Drive, deftly directed by Kate Whoriskey, isn’t interested in placing all of the blame on Uncle Peck. And he has quite a few, including, like Li’l Bit and most people in his extended family, a fondness for alcohol. It’s hard to imagine an actor more suited to play Uncle Peck, who is basically a decent man fighting a losing battle against his demons. He also exudes a sense of sadness that’s always just below the surface. Uncle Peck could easily come across as a monster, but luckily he’s played this time around by Norbert Leo Butz, an actor who brings an amiability to every role he plays, from the self-centered novelist in The Last Five Years to the gruff F.B.I.
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