Chad Coe and Marisa Van Den Borre (Photo by Vince Madero)
Reviewed by Catherine Crouch
Loveborg Productions and Vs. Theatre Company at the Madnani Theatre
Through May 18
RECOMMENDED
Chad Coe and Marisa Van Den Borre (Photo by Vince Madero)
Ironbound is Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Martyna Majok’s bold 2016 theatrical debut, telling the story of Darja (Marisa Van Den Borre), a Polish immigrant barely making ends meet as a cleaning lady. The play spans 22 years of Darja’s life. We see her young and new-to-America with first husband Maks (John Phillips), who is eager to leave New Jersey for Chicago to follow his dreams and sing the blues; we see her in the midst of an abusive second marriage, forming an odd companionship with street-wise teenager, Vic (Nicholas Anthony Reid); And we see her in the present, at 42, at odds with her mailman boyfriend Tommy (Chad Coe) as they negotiate love, practicality, and most of all, money.
Life hasn’t been kind to Darja. She has survived for decades, balancing difficult jobs with motherhood and partners who fail to give her what she needs. While money is Ironbound and Darja’s central interrogation, what she truly needs—though she won’t admit to it—is someone to take care of her.
Majok’s script is as rich, intense, and rewarding as one could hope for. A master at blending sincere drama with laugh-out-loud comedy, Majok doesn’t shy away from the sometimes provocative fusion of the two. (A personal favorite line, said by Vic to Darja in pure disbelief: “Holy shit, man… yer like a legit battered woman.”) Nor does Majok dull her sharp wit or the levity it provides, and yet she never invalidates the trauma Darja and her fellow characters carry with them. It is such a treat, then, that the actors deliver on and elevate the excellent script.
Van Den Borre delicately flips back and forth between the hopeful Darja at 20 and the hardened, cynical Darja at 42. She tears through wordy, fragmented dialogue with a thick accent that feels surprisingly second nature. Majok’s characters do not feel like archetypes: the overworked immigrant mother, the dopey boyfriend who can’t help but cheat a little… here, they feel lived in and real. Even Coe’s Tommy, your classic New Jersey Italian — who says eye-talian and has a penchant for married women — doesn’t fall victim to stereotypes and farce, in large part due to Coe’s portrayal of sincerity about his feelings for Darja and his own fears of loneliness. And Phillips and Reid both excel in their smaller but no less important roles, bringing gravitas and fire to their scenes with Van Den Borre and making Ironbound all the better for it.
Each scene takes place at the same bus stop bench, and as the Madnani Theatre’s stage is very shallow and wide, the space provides limited options for staging. Inevitably, Kimberly Alexander’s direction sometimes feels static or stilted, as frequent head-swiveling is necessary to see both actors in a scene, but it never feels amateurish or unpolished.
Ironbound was a year in the making, a true labor of love by Kimberly, Van Den Borre, and Coe (the pair also doubling as producers). It’s an immigrant story that feels true to the challenges those coming to America face in the exhausting search for more, and it’s hopeful that in that pursuit, life may be worth living. More than anything, it is a truly human story. Go see it if you can.
The Madnani Theatre, 6760 Lexington Ave., Hollywood. Fri.-Sat., 8 pm; Sun., 2 pm; Mon., 8 pm; thru May 18. www.ironboundplay.com Running Time: 90 minutes with no intermission.
