Category Archives: Uncategorized

Constellations

Broadway, Play, Uncategorized February 23, 2015 Leave a comment

If you have ever played theater games — or watched “Whose Line is It Anyway” for that matter — you are familiar with the “change” exercise.  Two players begin a scene and are then given instructions to change something: their last line, their mood, their relationship to one another etc.  Now imagine that this exercise goes on for 80 minutes.  That is the effect of Nick Payne’s Constellations.  It isn’t a play so much as a master class in the performing arts.

Fortunately for the audience, the two actors striving hard for an A+ are Jake Gyllenhaal and Ruth Wilson.  Ms. Wilson mines each segment for emotional depth as Marianne, who takes the more complicated journey of the two characters.  Every part of her body is so consistently engaged in demonstrating physical manifestations of “feeling”, I became exhausted for her.  Mr. Gyllenhaal displays remarkable range while living in the other character, Roland’s, very thin skin.  Although he has little to work with besides an unusual trade (beekeeping) and an (unlikely) attraction to Marianne, he manages to be by turns awkward, vulnerable, frustrated, and charming.  Frankly, I’d expect nothing less from this extraordinary talent and it’s a joy to experience.

Tom Scutt’s sets and Lee Curran’s lighting impressively convey the multiverse in which Marianne and Roland meet.  Both design team members were recognized for their work on the West End production of Constellations.

Unfortunately the conceit on which the script is built — that time is an illusion and the past, present and future all exist together — makes it impossible to forge any real connection to these characters.  When the reality is fluid, you can’t get any sense of who these people are as individuals much less as a couple.  I kinda sorta wanted them to end up together, but mostly because there was no one else on the stage.  Ultimately, I just wished I could go back in time and see If There Is I Haven’t Found it Yet.

Tickets for Constellations at the Manhattan Theater Club at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater are currently on sale through March 15, 2015 at http://constellationsbroadway.com.

Rasheeda Speaking

Off-Broadway, Play, Uncategorized February 16, 2015 1 Comment

There’s something toxic in the air in Dr. Williams’s office.  Whether it is emanating from the copier or one of the occupants isn’t easy to determine.  Williams is desperate to fire his latest hire, Jaclyn, a middle-age African American woman whom he feels is brusk with his patients and disrespectful of him.  But is he just being racially insensitive?  Is she really a dedicated employee with a rightfully-earned chip on her shoulder, who would thrive were she given just a little more support?

As portrayed by the charismatic and clever Tonya Pinkins, Jaclyn is a fascinating cypher.  She’s clearly an unreliable narrator of events, but the genuine nuggets of hard truth that lie beneath her stories poke through with alarming sharpness.  We may not want to have her over for dinner, but we certainly feel for her – at least some of the time.  I suspect Pinkins fleshed out Jaclyn’s backstory by thoroughly digesting the rich dialogue provided by Joel Drake Johnson (whose “The First Grade” is still fresh in my mind after four years).  Even her little “throw away” lines have weight.

If only Pinkins had a better opponent to play against.  Dianne Wiest’s performance seems to have been inspired by a newborn goat.  She trots unsteadily around the stage, bleating her lines in an irritating high-pitched tone.  By the time her character Ileen is in genuine distress, only dogs can hear her.  It’s a hugely disappointing turn from this Oscar winner and theater regular.

Happily, first-time director, Cynthia Nixon,  seems to have attracted a younger than usual audience to the theater.  I’m a bit puzzled, however, as to why the Sex and the City star chose this play as her directorial debut.  Unfolding in a static office setting, the action is limited to occasionally watering the plants and making coffee.  Perhaps, like me, Ms. Nixon is interested in team dynamics, particularly when they are filtered through prejudice and assumption.  Johnson provides a banquet of food for thought on this complicated subject.  Hours after the curtain, I found myself mulling over how I would handle Jaclyn as a boss, a co-worker or an HR professional.  That’s quite a takeaway from a little play.

Rasheeda Speaking is presented by The New Group at the Pershing Square Signature Center through March 22, 2015.  For tickets and information visit: http://www.thenewgroup.org/rasheeda-speaking.html

The Road To Damascus

Off-Broadway, Play, Uncategorized February 10, 2015 Leave a comment

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It is the not-so-distant future.  The first black Pope is on his way to Damascus to act as a human shield in hopes of preventing a bombing supported by the first third party President of the United States of America.  If that doesn’t sound like an intriguing way to begin a story, then The Road to Damascus is not for you.  Tom Dulack carries through with this bold premise with complete commitment and clever attention to detail.  By remaining firmly grounded and true to itself, the piece manages to be simultaneously reflective, current and forward thinking.

Given the importance that faith plays in the events that unfold, it’s appropriate that Mr. Dulack and his cast approach the material with total devotion.  Each character is given at least one rich and revealing speech, which must delight this group of seasoned professionals.  Rufus Collins is so convincing and nuanced in the pivotal role of Dexter Hobhouse, a third rate diplomat on it critical mission, that I half expected to meet one of his three ex-wives in the lobby.  Liza Vann as odious NSA agent Bree Benson brings some much needed comic relief to the mix.  But it falls to Larisa Polonsky as TV news rising star Nadia Kirilenko to articulate the main plot thread: the complex role that religion has always played in politics and war.  Her harsh criticism of all religions, including her own, is particularly timely given the recent fall out from President Obama’s comments at the annual prayer breakfast.

The play runs as one long yet tight 100 minute act.  This helps the playwright build an appropriate level of apprehension undiluted by soft drinks, stretching and fresh air.  The tense atmosphere is supported by Brittany Tasta’s clean, informative and flexible set. As directed by Michael Parva, the characters (and consequently the audience) are rapidly swept along from decision to decision.  There may be a few too many coincidences in the plot twists for some tastes, but I was completely captivated by these people and the hard, very real choices they are given.

The World Premiere of The Road to Damascus, presented by the Directors Company, is playing through March 1, 2015 at 59 East 59th Street Theater.  For information or to purchase tickets, please visit:

http://www.59e59.org/moreinfo.php?showid=190

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