THEATRE REVIEW:
KPBS AIRDATE: February 23, 2007
You could
call it Fire and Ice. Three blazing, passionate Southerners; three Russians
frozen in place. Sibling rivalry and revelry span a century and cross
continents, in a thrilling double bill at New Village Arts. The spunky, 6
year-old theater company says it’s the very first time these two plays have
been paired, juxtaposed and presented in repertory. The international classic
is Chekhov’s 1901 masterwork, “Three Sisters,” in a lyrical, colloquial
translation by Irish playwright Brian Friel. “Crimes of the Heart,” pure
Southern fried American gothic, garnered the Pulitzer Prize in 1982. There’s no
way that playwright Beth Henley didn’t have Chekhov in mind when she penned her
comic drama. In fact, there are so many commonalities between the two works that
New Village is staging a contest, with prizes for the most similarities
spotted.
Whether
you go for the competitive or the theatrical challenge, you definitely should
see both these excellent productions. Part of the charm is watching the same
actors play both sets of siblings. Kristianne Kurner, Jessica John and Amanda
Sitton are wonderfully together, alternately contentious and compassionate.
“Crimes” takes
a deliciously black comic view of small-town Southern life – focusing on the
loopy, dysfunctional Magrath family of Hazlehurst, Mississippi. These sisters
share a family history of suicide, a survivor mentality and a self-destructive
penchant for bizarre predicaments. The fussy oldest sister is slipping into
spinsterhood. The youngest has just shot her husband in the stomach. And the
middle one was recently released from the loony bin. Under the pitch-perfect
direction of Dana Case, these women, and the men in their lives, are superbly
portrayed, each character carved out with comedy, care and considerable
affection.
The tone
is typically more somber in Chekhov, but director Francis Gercke has mined all
the humor and maximized the music in this tale of another trio of parentless
sibs (oops! I just gave something away!). These three elegant, privileged Russians
find themselves stranded in a provincial town, longing for their rose-tinted
past in the Moscow of their youth. They talk of leaving, they rhapsodize about
work, but they go nowhere, do nothing. Fall in and out of love, always with the
wrong person. The mostly marvelous cast of 14 finds energy, excitement and a
great deal of heart in the profound ennui of the gentry, the decay of the upper
class, and the search for meaning in the modern world. Competing philosophies
are endlessly espoused; perhaps the anguish and despair could burrow a little
deeper. But there is so much to love about these two plays and productions that
you’ll want to grab your notepad and hotfoot it up to Carlsbad. Delight in the
performances, the divergences and the prize-potential similarities.
©2007 Patté Productions Inc.