You may already have missed Ars Nova's production of "Sundown, Yellow Moon" by Rachel Bond, one of their playwrights-in-residence. Anne Kauffman who also directed the excellent "A Life" at Playwright's Horizons last year directed. The story of bi-racial fraternal twins who return to the small Tennessee college town where they grew up to attend to their divorced father who has been suspended from his teaching job does not address race as one would perhaps expect. Instead it's about finding and/or losing one's direction in life and the connections that hold us together. All the performances are outstanding, particularly those of Eboni Booth as Joey, a lonely single academic, and Lilli Cooper as her twin Ray, a gay singer-songwriter. Peter Friedman is moving as the desperately unhappy father and Greg Keller gives a beautifully nuanced performance as a married poet with whom Joey falls in love. The music by The Bengsons helps carry along the action of the play. I look forward to seeing more work from Ms. Bond.
Lynn Nottage's "Sweat" at Studio 54 is dull and unoriginal. I felt like I had seen this play many times before. I am surprised that The Public moved this play to Broadway after a limited run downtown. Perhaps this was based on the reception of "Ruined," Nottage's previous play at the MTC. Which I saw. Which I liked. "Sweat" takes place in a working-class town in Pennsylvania in 2000 where factory workers are soon to be losing their jobs. Much of the play takes place in a bar. It is framed by the story of two young men getting out of prison in 2008 for a crime that it not disclosed until the very end of the play. It is the story of friendships, falling-outs and loss of livelihood with a dose of racism and xenophobia thrown in. There's nothing particularly revelatory about the ending. If one hasn't figured it all out about mid-way through the play then perhaps one was asleep. The play is such a clunky vehicle that it would be unfair to criticize the acting or direction so I'll do them the courtesy of not naming names.
"887" is Robert Lepage's newest brilliant phantasm to arrive at BAM. For me, nothing Lepage has done has measured up to "The Far Side of the Moon," his 2000 play about an encounter between the architect Frank Lloyd Wright and the Greek-Armenian philopher and spiritual teach Georgi I. Gurdjieff which continues to be my gold standard for his work. In "887" he tackles memory, specifically his own. 887 is the number of his childhood home in Quebec. He asks why we remember certain things and not others, what triggers memory, why do we remember meaningless events and details and forget important ones? He addresses the historical and social reality that shaped his identity. For over two hours he stands on a dark stage and leads us through his memories with the help of illuminated houses, tiny cars, sounds .... We are rapt.
Kneehigh's "946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips" is a very well-performed
'panto" but lacks the sophistication of their "Brief Encounter." This WW2 story of a 12 year old girl who loses her cat, the Tips of the title, and two black American soldiers who try to help her find it is lively and fun. The actors all play multiple roles and are dizzying in their acrobatic abilities. And, yes, she does find Tips. Emma Rice, as always, proves herself to be an adept director but I wish there had been something more for the adults in the audience.
"Oslo" at Lincoln Center is a wannabe Tom Stoppard/David Hare political play about the 1993 Israeli/Palestinian Peace Agreement. It's not half bad and at close to three hours that's saying a lot.
Not a great play by any means but well-acted by Jennifer Ehle and Jefferson Mays among others and informative. As directed by the ubiquitous Bartlett Sher, the J.T. Rogers play is a solid and intelligent but derivative, as stated above. It's the acting is what keeps the play afloat. In addition to the always excellent Ehle and Mays, Anthony Azizi is a stand-out at Ahmed Qurie, negotiating peace for Arafat, and Michael Aronov brings enormous exuberance to his portrayal of the Israeli negotiator Uri Savir. These two apparently became lifelong friends even if the the peace deal they managed to forge did not last.
