A work unfinishing: Weekly Margin 2023, W7: Pictures From Home, The Wanderers, The Tempest

Monday, February 13, 2023

Weekly Margin 2023, W7: Pictures From Home, The Wanderers, The Tempest

2/07/23: Pictures From Home

What: Roundabout presents Sharr White's adaptation of Larry Sultan's photographic memoir, framed here as Sultan and his parents presenting his project, all the while arguing the project's merits, the definition of success, and the nuances of their relationship.

And? Not terrible, but less than the sum of its parts. I loved White's play The Other Place, so perhaps I brought the wrong expectations to this piece. The three actors are fantastic, but for all that the characters insist Sultan's father Irving is a contradictory cypher, I find the character as portrayed by Nathan Lane pretty understandable. Contradictory, yes. A mystery, no. The strongest impression I took away with me was the way Michael Yeargan's scenic design, intentionally or not, interfaces with one of the play's themes: the question of truth versus a posed version of truth, and how much authenticity lies within that distinction. So sitting in the audience, seeing the shape of the beams that back the canvas walls of the set, or the folds in the fabric for the outdoor backdrop, noting the seams in the sheets thrown over the furniture, or witnessing (from my side section seating) props being gently placed within or removed from the actors' reach, all reminds me of the artifice of theater, of the presentational style of this play in particular. It's all a posed version of reality, every piece of the stage frame is as specifically planned as Sultan's inclusion of a postcard in a shot of his parents at the kitchen table. The shape of Yeargan's scenic design is the shape of the Sultan's house. But it's a stage set, and we all know it is. Is it still true? Is it still honest?

Zoë Wanamaker, foreground, and Nathan Lane, background, as Jean and
Irving Sultan. Photo by Julieta Cervantes.

2/08/23: The Wanderers

What: It's a Roundabout week! I can't help it if they keep producing playwrights I like. Anna Ziegler's play follows two married Jewish couples in Brooklyn, a generation apart: Esther and Schmuli in the 1970s, in an arranged marriage; and Sophie and Abe in the present day, both the children of mothers who left their Hasidic community. Esther and Schmuli reckon with Esther's desire for more freedom and exposure to the outside world, and the effect that has on their family. Sophie and Abe are both writers struggling to start their next books, when Abe finds distraction and validation through an email correspondence with an actress he idolizes.

And? I keep trying to separate the play itself from the performance, because I think the play is better than what I saw onstage. I have difficulty believing either of these couples have known each other for years, or that there is love nestled beneath the resentments and barriers. The most effective parts of the performances are the audience-addressed monologues, as no relationship besides a sense of self is required. Lucy Freyer is particularly good as Esther; the rest are fine. I do still like Ziegler's writing, but I fear this may be the Roundabout Curse rearing its head. After all, her play The Last Match didn't leave a huge impression on me when I saw it at Roundabout in 2017, but when I saw the Writers Theatre's filmed production of the same play four years later, I thought it was truly excellent. Don't worry, though! I have praise! Marion Williams's poetic scenic design--overlapping walls made of open-faced books, their pages fluttered out--is beautifully and mercurially lit by Kenneth Posner to be sometimes the many books in Esther's or Abe and Sophie's library, or backlit to be the phone and computer screens of Abe's illicit conversations, or--most stunningly--the cobbled walls of Esther and Schmuli's closed community. Honestly, this design is so poetic without being overbearing, and I hope it wins some awards.