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Five characters in search of a play find plenty to chew on in Christopher Durang’s “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” as currently staged by the Hampton Theater Company in Quogue. Audiences in search of a theme may be a bit more befuddled as the writing bounces around like a hot air balloon buffeted by wind gusts, blowing absurdist one minute, affecting the next, and ridiculous the one after that.Postmodern light summer fare it is.
Title alone—henceforth “Vanya et al.”—announces to anyone with a minimal knowledge of theater that the play will be a sendup of Chekhov, and indeed, the writing is stuffed with references to the—dare I say it?—dreary Russian drama’s “theater of mood.” However, while getting all the theatrical in-jokes will make one feel quite smugly self-satisfied, there is plenty to enjoy here for everyone. When I find my face drawn into a smile during a scene, what’s not to like?
The story itself is pure Chekhovian: Two 50-ish siblings are watching their lives drift by aimlessly at a country home as they wait for a sighting of a blue heron (instead of a seagull, get it?) at their pond.
Of course they can’t be your everyday drudges with humdrum jobs, so one is gay (Vanya), the other adopted (Sonia, see what I mean?). In fact, they are solely supported by their successful but not-quite-over-the-hill sister, the vivacious Masha (…yes) who’s been paying the bills.
She is home for the weekend with her latest lover, a boy toy with glittering pecs and a pre-ironic mind. His name adds an absurdist postmodernist touch: Spike, given name Vlad. Masha’s about to shake up her siblings’ dreary world by announcing that her career as a “nymphomaniac serial killer” in the movies has been spiraling downward, along with her ability to keep paying the bills.
Into this mix comes nearby visiting ingénue (Nina, naturally) and a tough-talking housecleaner, Cassandra, who quotes snippets of Greek drama as her name implies, but knows her voodoo too. Smeralda Abel as Cassandra commands the stage every time she appears, not only because she’s given some of the best lines that go from portending doom to “I need to get my car inspected,” but because she’s just damn good. The writing screams out for expansive acting to take advantage of it, and Ms. Abel goes for the kill. A newcomer to the Hampton Theatre’s retinue, we hope to see more of her.
As Mr. Durang moves about the characters in a plot as thin as a poor man’s porridge, they will attend the neighbor’s costume party, most of them attired as Disney characters from “Snow White.” Vanya will eventually morph into Uncle Vanya, and the unassuming Sonia will be transformed from a dumpling in pajamas to someone with the possibility of a life outside of this particular cherry orchard. Yes, of course, there would be such an orchard in this hodgepodge of Chekhovian delights.
Jane Lowe, returning to Hampton Theatre after a long hiatus, as Sonia is another standout in the cast as she transforms from neurotic spinster with a gloomy world view to flippant party-goer with more on the horizon. You do want her to succeed as the drama moves to its expected happy ending. Mr. Durang himself wrote in the Playbill when “Vanya et al.” made its 2013 Broadway appearance: “My play is not a Chekhov parody... I take Chekhov scenes and characters and put them into a blender.” With a play so thick with references, we beg to differ about the “parody” denial.
Eduardo Ramos as Spike gleefully bounds about in his skivvies whenever possible, which ain’t a bad thing as Mr. Ramos ain’t bad to look at, and he plays the buffoonish lover and would-be actor with the right touch of unaware cheekiness. He knows when he’s wanted in the bedroom, but give the boy time—he might surprise us all yet.
Fans of Hampton Theatre will happily recognize Rosemary Cline as Masha, up to her usual heights as the family diva, as well as Amanda Griemsmann as the possibly not-so-sweet ingénue Nina, who works her way into the family quagmire with swift aplomb. She’s both aching to be an actress and to inveigle her way into Spike’s affections.
Andrew Botsford is someone whose comedic gift I have previously extolled, but here one wishes he would take full advantage of Mr. Durang’s broad writing and veer to more outrageous oratory. Yet Mr. Botsford’s given an insufferably long rant near the end, so who’s to blame, playwright or actor? As Vanya, he decries the innocence of a bygone era, a time of stamps you lick, phones you dial, and tasks completed one at a time, when Ozzie and Harriet ruled on black-and-white TV and Tab Hunter was in the closet but his studio stood behind him. There’s much more, and what else Mr. Durang could have stuffed into that soliloquy, I know not.
Against now-forgotten competition, “Vanya et al.” won the Tony as well as the Drama Desk Award for best play in 2013. As amusing summer theater, the always competent cast in Quogue does well by this lesser Durang.
“Vanya and Sasha and Masha and Spike” continues through June 12 with performances Thursdays and Fridays at 7 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. at Quogue Community Hall, 125 Jessup Avenue, Quogue. Tickets are $30 for adults, $25 for seniors excluding Saturdays and $10 for students under 21. Call 866-653-8955 or visit hamptontheatre.org.
on May 30, 2016