Writer: Adam Rapp
Director: Matt Wilkinson
On a bare stage, dressed with only two stackable chairs, a character appears and starts telling us about her life as a creative writing professor at an Ivy League university. She’s Bella Lee Baird (Madeleine Potter), a single, middle-aged writer who has achieved limited success. For lovers of Alison Lurie novels, this is the kind of milieu we’re in; clever people who secure high-flying jobs, yet feel insecure for one reason or another, and who are always full of self-doubt and self-questioning.
Into Bella’s anxious but ordered world tumbles teenage freshman Christopher Dunn (Eric Sirakian), an agitated maverick of a student, someone who refuses to abide by rules or use email. If he acts provocatively to get a reaction from Bella, he also seeks to persuade her they’re kindred spirits, both outsiders. Their early interactions generate uneasy laughter, as a sinister atmosphere builds. The pair’s discussion of literature creates a convincing aura of first-year intellectualism. Christopher’s updates about the novel he’s writing initially add more humour, then become increasingly disturbing.
Each character directly addresses the audience at times, underlining the idea that the unfolding events are happening in the past. There’s a lyrical quality to the monologues, especially when Bella is sketching in details of her experiences, and both actors achieve a richness in terms of vocal variety.
I wish I liked this production more than I did, but you have to tell it as you see it. However laden with award nominations the play may be, and however skilled the cast, the austerity of the staging, in a space that could offer so much more, reduces the show to advanced storytelling, rather than drama.
You could argue that choosing not to provide a set has the effect of focusing audience attention on the performers and the story. It creates intensity. However, it also greatly limits what the actors do, apart from speaking their lines, leaving very little to look at. It’s like a radio play, with lovely, eloquent passages that just about keep you engaged, but then there’s a further problem. Placing so much emphasis on the storyline ultimately shows up the ending as rather hackneyed and melodramatic.
Runs until 25 August 2024 | Image: Contributed
1 Comment
It’s so interesting reading your review as for me, funnily enough, the simplicity of the design and staging was what made the evening so captivating. There were no distractions and with two sublime performances and beautiful sound and lighting, I found myself transfixed. But it’s all to do with taste and we’re all different. But anyone who loves beautiful lyrical writing with stylish directorial class and a thrilling piece of drama, I’d take a gamble. There are no gimmicks at all, no attempt to be trendy or of the moment, it’s pure drama at its best with a very unexpected twist.