"Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike" at the Guthrie Theater

In a lovely bit of symmetry, the Guthrie is closing a season that began with Chekhov's Uncle Vanya with a new play by Christopher Durang that uses Chekhovian characters and themes in a decidedly modern way - Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Since I'm no Chekhov expert (in fact Uncle Vanya was the first and only Chekhov play I've seen), I'll direct you to the Guthrie's informative playbill (or online play guide) for more explanation on how the two plays are related. Whatever Durang's inspiration was, the result is a hilarious comedy about a dysfunctional trio of siblings and the wacky people that surround them. Even though I'm sure I missed many of the Chekhov and other references, I thoroughly enjoyed the play. It's great fun, with fantastic performances by everyone in the six-person cast.

The titular Vanya and Sonia and Masha are middle-aged siblings, named by their professor and community theater actor parents after characters in Chekhov's plays. Masha is a successful actor living in New York City, and owns the family home in rural Pennsylvania where Vanya and Sonia took care of their aging parents until their death, and where they are now stuck. Masha returns home with her new boy toy Spike to attend a rich neighbor's costume party and to inform her siblings that she's selling the house and they'll have to move out. Aspiring actor Nina, the neighbors' niece, comes over to express her admiration for Masha and gets entangled in the family drama, which includes not only the costume party but a reading of Vanya's absurd semi-autobiographical play. Rounding out this group of oddballs is housekeeper Cassandra, who, like her namesake, is destined to foretell the future and not be believed. The family yells, argues, throws things, and ultimately comes to some sort of comfortable peace with each other and the fact that "their lives are over."

Sonia, Masha, Spike, and Vanya
(Suzanne Warmanen, Candy Buckley, Joshua James Campbell,
and Charles Janasz, photo by Joan Marcus)

Each one of these characters is an extreme, and beautifully portrayed by the actors to broad comedic effect, while still offering glimpses of the humanity beneath the craziness. Charles Janesz is so natural as the poor schlub Vanya, who seems like the calm normal one until he explodes in an exasperated second act rant about the good old days, perfectly delivered so that it seems like he's saying these words for the very first time. The ever hilarious Suzanne Warmanen brings much humor to the role of the long-suffering and melodramatic Sonia, and also makes you sympathize with Sonia as she experiences rare hope (and she does a great Maggie Smith impression). Candy Buckley parades around the stage with all the bravado and self-centeredness of a "movie star." She has this guttural way of emphasizing words that's almost over the top, except that it works and it's hilarious. Boy toy Spike is just what you'd expect, a perfect exterior with not much going on underneath, and Joshua James Campbell (a familiar face from other local stages making his Guthrie debut) plays this vain character with absolutely no vanity, strutting around the stage in various stages of undress. Watching the other characters' reactions to Spike is almost as much fun as watching him (this is not the first time Josh has stripped, or reverse stripped, onstage, anyone remember Theater Latte Da's The Full Monty?). Ali Rose Dachis is all sweet innocence as Nina, a ray of sunlight in this grumpy family. Last but not least, Isabell Monk O'Connor brings great and gleeful energy to Cassandra, snapping into and out of her prophetic statements as if in a trance.

Unlike his gigs at the Jungle where he also designs the set, Joel Sass merely directs here, keeping the hilarity moving but not getting out of control. Todd Rosenthal gets the credit for designing the lived-in, comfortable country home, with community theater posters on the wall and tchotchkes on the tables.

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is a play that doesn't take itself or its characters too seriously, even poking gentle fun at theater itself. Spending an evening with these crazy characters is great fun, and a pleasant end to another wonderful season at the Guthrie (playing through August 31).


This article also appears on Broadway World Minneapolis.

"The Edge of Our Bodies" at the Guthrie Theater

When I walked into the Guthrie's Dowling Studio theater last night to see* The Edge of Our Bodies, the star of the show, Ali Rose Dachis, was quietly sitting on stage, barely moving, just observing.  It was a bit disconcerting at first (Am I late? Can we talk?), but eventually the audience got used to it and the usual pre-show chatter ensued.  At showtime the house lights slowly went down, the audience became silent, and Ali began talking.  And she didn't stop for 90 minutes.

We soon found out that Bernadette is a 16-year-old student at a boarding school in Vermont.  She begins by reading from her journal, barely looking up as she recounts her journey by train into New York City to visit her boyfriend.  She eventually puts down her journal and paces around the stage, acting out some of the story.  The purpose of her trip is to tell her boyfriend that she's pregnant, but of course things don't go quite as she planned.  Bernie has a series of encounters on her journey - an old man on the train, her boyfriend's sick father, a man she meets in a bar.  Each encounter is beautifully told in a way that makes it seem like you're watching the interaction as it happens, instead of listening to Bernie tell about it sometime later.  She's somewhat of a pathological liar; she makes up a different back-story for herself with everyone she meets.  She returns home after an unsatisfying visit to continue on with her life as best she can.

What an amazing feat of acting, not just to memorize what is basically a 90-minute monologue (except for one brief interruption, which is a bit jarring but helps establish the setting of the play), but also to create this character and tell the entire story by yourself with no help from other cast-members.  No breaks or pauses, just continuous story-telling.  Ali does an amazing job of bringing Bernie (and the other characters as seen through her eyes) to life through her storytelling.  She was hand-picked by the director, Benjamin McGovern, after directing her last year in Circle Mirror Transformation (one of my favorite shows of 2010).  In that show she played a sullen teenager, but this role has much more depth, which she's definitely up for.  Of course it probably helps that the material is so rich.  The Edge of Our Bodies is a beautifully written play that sounds like it could be a short story (there's lots of "he says," "I reply"); Bernie wants to write short stories when she grows up, making one think this could be her first short story.  I came away from the show wanting to read some of playwright Adam Rapp's novels or see more of his plays; I really connected to his writing style and the flow of his words.  Even though his name sounded familiar, it wasn't until I googled him that I found out he's Anthony Rapp's brother (he originated my favorite character Mark in my favorite musical RENT, and I had the pleasure of seeing him perform the role on tour a few years ago).  Talented family.

It took a little while to figure out what the set was supposed to be, where is Bernie telling this story from?  The floor of the stage is a series of marble circles, and the furniture is ornate and old-fashioned looking, in contrast to the young and modern story Bernie is telling (Michael Hoover designed the set, and also designed the realistic lived-in house of Park Square Theatre's August: Osage County).  We learn that her school is doing the play The Maids by Jean Genet (about two maids who play at killing their employer), and it becomes apparent (especially after the janitor interrupts her and starts dismantling the set) that she's on the abandoned stage after the run of the show.  She interjects overly dramatic scenes from the play into her storytelling.

The Edge of Our Bodies is a beautifully written play, beautifully acted; a great 90 minutes of story-telling.  The other two shows playing at the Guthrie right now are big and loud (Burial at Thebes and Much Ado About Nothing); this play is a nice contrast to that.  One person telling a story from the heart can be just as effective, even moreso, than a large cast.  That's what I like about theater; it can be wild and crazy, or silly and funny, or quiet and poignant, or anything in between.


*I received two free tickets to this play as part of "Blogger Night at the Guthrie."


Celebrity Sighting
I seem to run into Peter Rothstein (Artistic Director of Theater Latte Da) everywhere I go lately, but I swear I'm not stalking him!  ;)  I spotted him in the 4th floor lobby at the Guthrie.  I didn't see him up at the Studio so I'm not sure what show he was there to see.  I like to think he saw Burial at Thebes because they do some pretty innovative story-telling through music, which is what Latte Da is all about.