Raves for Doug Jackson in “Brighton Beach Memoirs”
Rock of the family, with the world’s challenges weighing him down in near Willie Loman proportion, father Jack dispenses wisdom and knits the family together with honor, dignity and a love so quiet yet so intense it makes the audience ache to watch him. Doug Jackson gives a riveting, heart-rending performance as the family breadwinner, failing in health and almost overwhelmed by the responsibilities thrust upon him to deliberate. Jackson’s sophisticated, modulated portrayal substantiates the truth that far better acting occurs in stillness and silence than it does in chewing up lots of scenery. When Jackson’s Jack is in a scene, no one, on or off stage, takes his or her eyes off him.
Alexandra Bonifield, Pegasus News
As the patriarch Jack, theater vet Doug Jackson is a revelation. The greatest compliment I can give to an actor is that I lose the actor inside the character. This is one such performance. Grounding Jack with subtlety and realism, Jackson seems plucked from the late 1930s and presents a full-fledged three-dimensional character. It does not get much better than this.
Doug Dodasovich, The Edge, Dallas
Doug Jackson’s performance as Jack Jerome is first-rate. He exchanges lines with the other actors as if he’s known them for decades, and captures the character’s stress and responsibility as the family patriarch.
Carli Baylor, Theater Jones
Fortunately, Contemporary Theatre has an ace in the hole with Doug Jackson. He brings undeniable experience and authority to his performance as Jack Jerome. Jackson’s Jack is not merely the wise patriarch, but also works as a masculine paragon for his sons to emulate. Cindee Mayfield plays Kate Jerome as worried and wary but never weary. The chemistry of these two create an illusion of a long marriage.
David Novinski, D Magazine
The only person that could top this sensational cast is Doug Jackson as the father. His Jack is so nuanced, so true, so absolutely convincing it seemed as though he wasn’t acting. His one scene with Will Christopher as he dispenses advice was so full of love and heartbreak, plus the weight of the world at being a disappointment to his own family, that I couldn’t stop crying. Yet throughout it all he still delivers some very funny lines, but they are painfully funny. This is a performance that as an audience member I will cherish forever. Mr. Jackson is a master of his craft and to see him paired up to Mr. Christoferson who also matched him in his level of honesty and complexity was theatre magic.
Mark-Brian Sonna, John Garcia’s The Column
In Contemporary’s production Cindee Mayfield and Doug Jackson are beautifully nuanced as Kate and Jack.