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A Walk in the Woods
Reviewed by Devin Weil
Sierra Madre Playhouse
Through Feb. 21
RECOMMENDED:
This revival of Lee Blessing’s 1988 political drama consisting of two diplomats from opposing nations taking a walk in the Swiss woods proved here (at the Sierra Madre Playhouse) to be not only funny and heavy simultaneously but also quick on its feet. After a smooth Act 1, a marriage of palpable chemistry between the two actors on stage, John Prosky and Nancy Youngblut combined with sounds from nature, complementary songs, and mood lighting, intermission arrived and all the lights went out.
No, not a fade-out but a power outage. No power, no problem. Even through technical difficulties, Geoffrey Wade’s production prevailed.
The actors forged on into Act 2 with gusto even after losing some critical theatrical touches. Sans theatrical lighting and sound, there was no collapse of the ambiance thanks to the beautiful set design (scenic artist—Orlando de la Paz, scenic designer—Rei Yanamoto). The large tree center stage and various trees scattered about with branches forking at the ceiling above the stage were enough to transport someone directly into the play’s wild forest. And the lively, energetic, nearly full house of the Sierra Madre Playhouse was titillated by the power of raw imagination demanded by the electrical failure.
Two negotiators, one woman, one man, have one agenda, to come to a consensus on the disarmament of nuclear arms in both Russia and the United States. That task does not come too easily when the two negotiators project philosophies as disparate as that of their nations.
In the middle of the woods, the worlds and words of Prosky’s Andrey Botvinnik and Youngblut’s Joan Honeyman convene and collide. How the two utter their language of diplomacy is not only a reflection of their personalities but also a paradoxical play on the mindsets of each country. Andrey cracks jokes like diplomacy is some form of trivial comedic performance while Joan tenses up like a tight rope and addresses her Russian partner with frigidity.
Instead of a place of solitude, the woods is a place where both Andrey and Joan wage war. Andrey and Joan are simply representatives of their countries, not decision makers. In the end, the woods speak the final word. Andrey and Joan form the comradery an old married couple amidst the tranquility of the tall trees.
Their full-throttled frustration is quelled by an overarching acknowledgment of the grandness of their respective countries’ power in conjunction with the powerlessness of its people. The woods of Switzerland serve as a symbol of peace for the polar-opposite nations of Russia and the United States, while, paradoxically, the wilderness also swallows any significant hope of a binding agreements.
In the end, the comfortable close is a bit too cozy for the rather discomfiting task at hand, but that’s a deficit to be billed to Blessing.
Sierra Madre Playhouse. 87 Sierra Madre Boulevard, Sierra Madre; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2:30 p.m.; through Feb. 21. www.sierramadreplayhouse.org
