Marin Ireland and Jon Bernthal (Photo by Jeff Lorch)
Reviewed by Philip Brandes
Ojai Theatre Festival
Through May 18.
RECOMMENDED
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” beckons the iconic bronze plaque beneath the Statue of Liberty. But for desperate immigrants in pursuit of the American Dream, the invitation comes with strings attached — yearning is no guarantee of fulfillment. Without money, just gaining a foothold is challenging enough; the obstacles compound when English is not your native language, and for women the possibilities are even more limited. Add single motherhood and you’re stuck on a lonely bottom rung of the economic food chain, a predicament illuminated with poignant insight and compassion in Ojai Theatre Festival’s promising inaugural production of “Ironbound.”
With unsentimental precision and authenticity, Martyna Majok’s deceptively simple drama humanizes the immigrant experience through the story of Darja (Marin Ireland, in a riveting performance), a Polish immigrant modeled on the playwright’s mother.
When we first spot Darja at the grey, featureless Newark bus stop where the play takes place, she’s forty-two and a fortress of sharp edges, deep suspicion and nearly airtight self-protection. After more than twenty-two years of struggle to find stable footing in America, she’s no closer to her goal. Her life has been shaped by two failed marriages, the closure of the factory where she once held her only real job, a drug-addicted son who’s disappeared with her car, and the knowledge that the serial philanderer she’s been living with for the past six years has been having his latest affair with the rich housewife whose house she’s been cleaning to make ends meet.
Said unfaithful boyfriend, Tommy (Ojai Theatre Festival co-founder Jon Berthnal), tracks Darja down to the bus stop in an attempt to placate her with a vague offer to be more “understanding.” She cuts through his bullshit with an icy pragmatism born of continual disappointments: “No. These it’s fake ideas…I need figures.Numbers. Money. You are not my great love, okay? You are not my great love for talking to me fake ideas.”
Darja’s command of English grammar may lack finesse, but it’s more than adequate for her to express herself in blunt, unvarnished truths, powered by a fully-refined sense of irony. Having played the role Off-Broadway in 2016 and at the Geffen Playhouse in 2018, Ireland knows this character in her bones, and telegraphs Darja’s acumen and discernment with every finely-nuanced gesture, inflection, knowing half-smile, or even just a raised eyebrow.
In their ensuing argument, Bernthal’s comically floundering Tommy is woefully outmatched as Darja counters his feeble denials and excuses with cold, hard facts. Nevertheless, his status as a gainfully employed native U.S. citizen gives him socioeconomic leverage in their power dynamic. Plus, he actually cares about her.
Though more widely known for his badass action roles in film and television, Bernthal is a stage actor of considerable range and subtlety; beneath Tommy’s veneer of bravado, Bernthal projects an endearing uncertainty and awkwardness that bring heartfelt realism to his exchanges with Ireland’s Darja.
Tommy has his work cut out for him, though — Darja’s prickly defenses aren’t easy to overcome. She wasn’t always that way, however, and well-played flashbacks provide windows into her immigrant’s journey at two crucial turning points.
One flashback to 1992 finds Darja and her first husband, Maks (Shiloh Fernandez) at the same Newark bus stop shortly after their arrival in America. In a remarkable age-spanning transformation, Ireland shows us a very different Darja — open, playful, flirty and radiating youthful energy and optimism. Even so, her practical side is already evident in her desire to build their futures on their current circumstances, in sharp contrast to Maks’ dreams of moving to Chicago to pursue a bigger life as a blues musician.
The other flashback to 2006 shows Darja at her lowest point, fleeing from an abusive second husband never seen onstage. Back at the familiar bus stop shivering under a makeshift cardboard shelter, she’s discovered by a young male prostitute (Michael Govan Hackett). As she grudgingly lowers her guard to accept his offer of assistance, their encounter becomes a touching affirmation of unexpected moments of generosity and mutual support between outcasts.
To direct this initial Ojai Theatre Festival production, Bernthal recruited Guillermo Cienfuegos, the Artistic Director of L.A.’s Rogue Machine Theatre (a company with which Bernthal has long-standing ties going back to his “Small Engine Repair” performance in 2011). In turn, Cienfuegos enlisted a first-rate design crew, all of whom have worked at Rogue Machine and other prominent SoCal companies: Matt Richter, lighting; Christopher Moscatiello, sound; and Christine Cover Ferro, costumes.
The team made good use of Ojai’s Chaparral Auditorium, a renovation still in progress. To maximize the venue’s limited space, Cienfuegos opted for in-the-round presentation with 149 seats. While the resulting proximity to the actors amplified the show’s intimacy, at different times the staging inevitably left their backs to us — a pity, since every moment of Ireland and her co-stars’ performances offered something worth seeing.
In the short time since the premiere of Majok’s play in 2014, prejudicial attitudes towards immigrants has only worsened from dismissive distrust to outright demonization. All the more reason why “Ironbound” is an urgent timely message to restore their humanity.
Ojai Theatre Festival, Chaparral Theater, 450 E Ojai Ave, Ojai. This Fri. 8 pm, Sat. 3 and 8 pm, Sun. 3 and 7 pm; thru May 18. https://nordhoffdrama.com/ironbound. Running time: approximately 90 minutes with no intermission.
