Lucas Hnath's new play"Red Speedo" at NYTW was much, much better than I expected. If you read my blog you will remember that his much over-hyped play "The Christians" left me curiously unaffected. I think that Hnath is still trying to find his way as a playwright which makes it seem strange to me that he is already a recipient of numerous prestigious awards including a Guggenheim last year. Oh, well, what do I know? If you read my blog then perhaps you think I know at least a little but I am having to push back against the hoards of people who rely on Ben Brantley of The New York Times to inform their theatre-going.
There is an actual pool on stage, or, rather running the length of the stage and separating the audience from the actors. A fourth wall perhaps? I thought it a clever and original devise. The play opens with an Olympic calibre swimmer diving in and swimming two lengths without coming up for air. He exits the pool and we see how muscular and defined his body is, a swimming machine. And this is, for the most part, is how we see him for the entire 90 minutes of the play as his lawyer brother, coach and sports therapist ex-girlfriend manipulate him. Or is he actually manipulating them? The set is brilliant and the acting pretty damn good. Alex Breaux as Ray, the swimmer, is a particular stand-out. Peter Jay Fernandez brings a steely resolve to Coach and Lucas Caleb Rooney, as Ray's lawyer bother Peter, has his best Philip Seymour Hoffman on and, while not in that league, certainly claims the part. The only weak performance is Zoe Winters as Lydia, who I have seen and liked before in "An Octoroon" at Soho Rep and "4,000 Miles" at Lincoln Center. In fairness, it is not her fault that Lydia is not a fully realized character. The real problem with play is in the ending. The play is a puzzle of interlocking pieces and Hnath is unable to give us the last piece, the one last twist necessary to make everything click together, so instead "Red Speedo" departs from it's stylistic slickness and becomes a bloody brawl. I expect that's a spoiler.
While the playwrights Bruce Norris ("Clybourne Park") is attempting Albee, Sarah Ruhl has been known to steal from Richard Foreman("Dead Man's Cell Phone") and Stephen Karam ("The Humans") thinks he is onto something Pinter-esque, Hnath's work is a mash up of David Mamet, Carol Churchhill and Sam Shephard. I think Hnath fares better here that Norris and Karam in their recent productions so that's saying something.
Where do we look for originality these days? Well, fortunately, I think that Annie Baker("The Flick") is on to something as are Anne Washburn("10 Out of 12") and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins ("An Octoroon"). Anne Washburn's "Antlia Pneumatica" opens at Playwrights Horizons on March 11th. Something to look forward to
