Theater: “We Had a World” @ MTC City Center

When young Joshua (Andrew Barth Feldman) tells his grandmother Renee (Joanna Gleason) that he wants to write a play about their family, she’s thrilled. “Call it ‘Battle of the Titans.’ Just remember,” she advises, “to make it as vitriolic as possible.”

In “We Had A World,” playwright Joshua Harmon (“Bad Jews” and “Prayer for the French Republic”) has done exactly that.

Outwardly, Renee seems to be the perfect eccentric Manhattan grandmother, escorting Josh to such cultural events as a Robert Mapplethorpe exhibit (when he is 7) and shortly thereafter, a gallery show featuring a photograph entitled “Pubic Hair on Bar of Soap.”

Joshua’s mother Ellen (Jeanne Serrales) is having none of this. In fact she accuses Renee of deliberately currying favor with her son at Ellen’s expense. This intergenerational conflict (hence the joke “The Battle of the Titans”) sets the tone for the play.

Ellen eventually reveals to her son that his beloved grandmother is an alcoholic, a condition which she believes has governed Renee’s schizophrenic behavior and bad mothering.

Gleason is very good as the grandmother who while looking fairly innocent is actually so machinating that she even plays Ellen and her sister against each other. (The root of this conflict is never revealed.) Serrales’ performance may be even better as the daughter who needs to have the last word in every argument.

The acting and script are very sharp, and there are hilarious moments that will resonate with people who live in a city of mean people and cultural oneupmanship. “World” plays to the heartstrings once Renee reveals she has pancreatic cancer. But daughter Ellen remains implacable as ever.

As I exited the theater, an audience member gushed about how “realistic” the play and the characters were. (Indeed, most of my fellow theatergoers were wildly enthusiastic.) My take? The mother-daughter vitriol is hard-hitting but very disturbing. If this is your cup of tea, drink up. “We Had a World.” In previews at MTC City Center.

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