‘TIME AND THE CONWAYS’: (left to right) Elizabeth McGovern, Charlotte Parry & Anna Baryshnikov. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

TIME AND THE CONWAYS
Written by J. B. Priestley
Directed by Rebecca Taichman
Through November 26, 2017
American Airlines Theater
227 West 42nd Street
(212-719-1300), www.RoundaboutTheatre.org

By David NouNou

Written and performed on the London stage in 1937, J. B. Priestley uses the basis of time travel to showcase a family’s life and changes. Starting in 1919, the first part of Act 1 shows us the giddy, frivolous lives of an upper-middle-class British family (the Conways) at the end of World War 1.

On this particular night, the Conways are celebrating Kay’s (Charlotte Parry) 21st birthday. Kay is one of six children blessed to Mrs. Conway (Elizabeth McGovern) who is now a widow. Kay wants to be an author/writer and is unsuccessful in her endeavors. Her siblings consist of a doltish older brother, Alan (Gabriel Ebert) who is a clerk in a dead-end job; she has a younger sister, the beauty, Hazel (Anna Camp) who is vapid and only cares about her looks and pleasures; another sister, the Socialist and spinsterly Madge (Brooke Bloom); the youngest sister, the lovely childlike Carol ( Anna Baryshnikov); and the returning soldier and golden boy, Robin (Matthew James Thomas). Tonight, Kay is orchestrating her party and is assigning charade duties with costumes to her mother and siblings for the pleasure of the guests that have been invited.

In the middle of these proceedings, part two of Act 1 comes to view. With the wonderfully designed set by Neil Patel, the current living room fades backward and from the ceiling descends a less ornate version of it and the year is 1938, a year later than when the play was presented. Kay has returned from London to her home by the request of her mother. Kay is a writer for a magazine that interviews movie stars who visit England. She has come home on the day that coincides with her 40th birthday. Also, there are her siblings. In the ensuing 19 years, “time” hasn’t been that good to the Conways. Only Alan, the dolt, has the good sense and serenity to take things as they come and flow with the tide. This upheaval has disastrous consequences for the rest of the siblings. Hazel has married a rich bully, Ernest Beevers (Steven Boyer), who takes vengeance on her and the Conways. Madge has become a spinsterish school headmistress. Robin has become a drunkard, deserted his wife and family, and failed in all his endeavors. Worst of all is Mrs. Conway, who is about to lose her home and her children’s inheritance.

Act II goes back to 1919 to reveal what led to this downfall. Of course, the end of the war has a lot to do with it, due to social economics and the changes that are taking place around the world to which the Conways are totally blithe. The impoverished Beevers, who came to court Hazel. was ridiculed by her and the family. Similarly, Gerald Thornton, the family solicitor (Alfredo Narciso), who was only seen as their employee, now controls the purse strings. The uniqueness of Time and the Conways isn’t just the reversal of fortunes, it’s also about how the frivolous and feckless who look down on people create the monsters that unseat them.

The acting is uneven by mostly everyone. Elizabeth McGovern, as Mrs. Conway, is unconvincing as her younger self in Act I, some of her children look older than her. However, as her older and hardened self of 1938, she is riveting and heartbreaking. Steven Boyer, who was spellbinding in Hand to God, now in a much smaller role, is frightening as the belligerent Beevers who changes from an eager wooer to a maniacal bully to exact revenge is perfect. Charlotte Parry, as Kay, is charming and engaging and it never ceases to amaze me how Gabriel Ebert can play a dolt and be able to steal every scene whether here, in Matilda or Therese Raquin.

Time and The Conways does have a moral to it; frivolity and fecklessness have a price, it’s not all about the fun, parties and wishful dreaming. Pertinent to our current situation, but in reverse, enjoy yourself now, make every minute count, because World War III may be around the corner.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 15, 2017
Reviewed at October 14, 2017 press performance.

‘TIME AND THE CONWAYS’: (left to right) Matthew James Thomas, Gabriel Ebert, Anna Baryshnikov. Charlotte Parry, Elizabeth McGovern & Anna Camp. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘TIME AND THE CONWAYS’: (left to right) Gabriel Ebert, Anna Baryshnikov, Anna Camp, Elizabeth McGovern & Matthew James Thomas. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘TIME AND THE CONWAYS’: (left to right) Matthew James Thomas, Gabriel Ebert, Steven Boyer & Charlotte Parry. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘TIME AND THE CONWAYS’: (left to right) Anna Baryshnikov, Charlotte Parry, Matthew James Thomas & Anna Camp. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘TIME AND THE CONWAYS’: (left to right) Elizabeth McGovern, Brooke Bloom & Charlotte Parry. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘TIME AND THE CONWAYS’: (left to right) Anna Baryshnikov, Charlotte Parry & Anna Camp. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

The post ‘Time and the Conways’: The price of frivolity appeared first on StageZine.

‘INDECENT’: The cast. Photo: Carol Rosegg

INDECENT
By Paula Vogel
Directed by Rebecca Taichman
Cort Theatre
138 West 48th Street
212-239-6200, www.IndecentBroadway.com

By Scott Harrah

More than merely a drama about a play that shocked early 20th century audiences, Paula Vogel’s Indecent illuminates a dark period of history when anti-Semitism and anti-immigrant sentiment were rampant in America. No, the year is not 2017 but 1906 to the 1920s through 1940s. There are numerous themes and subtexts in this complex, fascinating and sometimes confusing drama, from the troubled staging of Yiddish writer Sholem Asch’s theatrical potboiler God of Vengeance to the disturbing tide of prejudice toward Jews and their culture evolving from the turn of the 20th century and onward.

This is the proverbial Brechtian epic, immediately grabbing one’s attention and posing questions about art, decency, and the boundaries of morality and faith. It’s exhausting yet riveting to watch from the opening scene, with Yiddish actors onstage speaking as ashes literally fall off their bodies. This is only the beginning of the layers upon layers of symbolism that unfold throughout the 100-minute show.

At first glance, one thinks the story is simply about Mr. Asch’s turgid Yiddish drama, a sensational tale about a brothel owner, his daughter, a prostitute, a lesbian affair and desecration of a Torah. Asch’s play was a hit on the Yiddish theater circuit in Europe, but scandalous indeed when it was translated into English and debuted in New York at the Provincetown Playhouse in 1922. Although the lesbian themes were toned down (and a Sapphic kissing scene cut) for the Broadway transfer to the Apollo Theatre in 1923, the cast and producer were arrested mid-performance for obscenity a few weeks into the run.

Indecent, however, is really less about the puritanical reaction to God of Vengeance in America and more of an homage to the death of Yiddish theater and the tragedy of Jews across the world from the early 1900s up through the Holocaust. In addition, the story shows how America, decades before feminism, could not handle not only homosexuality but anything that depicted women as something beyond wives, daughters or prostitutes.

Despite the heavy subject matter, Indecent is a visually arresting piece of theater. Seven actors portray “the troupe,” from Lemml, the stage manager of Asch’s play (Richard Topol), while others play musicians performing klezmer-style music (with original compositions by Lisa Gutkin and Aaron Halva). The stage features constantly changing projections of Yiddish, Hebrew and English supertitles and scene settings, from Warsaw in 1906 (when Asch first wrote the play) to Berlin, various stages and attics across Europe to New York City. The action jumps around from city to city like a TV miniseries or popular novel (a narrative technique that is always tricky on the stage).

There is a frenetic lyricism to Rebecca Taichman’s direction of the actors, many of whom play multiple roles. It is Ms. Taichman’s manic pacing of the evolving plot, musicians and actors dancing in circles–and the endless projections of the supertitles–that keeps us glued to the action but grows tiresome at times.

Indecent is a show that has quite a backstory itself, with Ms. Taichman basing the chronicle of God of Vengeance (and its obscenity trial over the first lesbian kiss in American theater) as a directing thesis at Yale. She and Paula Vogel worked over a period of seven years to develop the opus, after productions at the Yale Rep, La Jolla Playhouse and an Off-Broadway run at the Vineyard last year.

There are outstanding ensemble performances here, from Richard Topol as Lemml and Max Gordon Moore as Sholem Asch to Katrina Lenk and Adina Verson as the actresses portraying lovers. Musicians Matt Darriau, Lisa Gutkin and Aaron Halva add an eerie, haunting sincerity to the play with their original compositions.

Yes, the show is over-the-top, overly poetic, and perhaps too cerebral and academic for its own good. However, the overall message of Indecent is what makes it so relevant and topical today. Because, much like the political climate leading up to World War II, we also now live in age of xenophobia and prejudice about sexuality, race and religion. It is chilling when one thinks that the censorship, bigotry and fascism that were pervasive in the days of God of Vengeance (and created so much human suffering) could easily be repeated in 21st century America.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 18, 2017
Reviewed at press performance on April 15, 2017

‘INDECENT’: (left to right) Aaron Halva (with accordion), Matt Darriau (with clarinet), Lisa Gutkin (with violin) & company. Photo: Carol Rosegg

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‘INDECENT’: The cast. Photo: Carol Rosegg

‘INDECENT’: The cast. Photo: Carol Rosegg

‘INDECENT’: Max Gordon Moore & Richard Topol. Photo: Carol Rosegg

‘INDECENT’: Max Gordon Moore & Richard Topol. Photo: Carol Rosegg

‘INDECENT’: Katrina Lenk & Adina Verson. Photo: Carol Rosegg

‘INDECENT’: Max Gordon Moore & Adina Verson. Photo: Carol Rosegg

‘INDECENT’: Adina Verson & Katrina Lenk. Photo: Carol Rosegg

The post ‘Indecent’: Play about a play that shocked appeared first on StageZine.