Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Reviewed by G. Bruce Smith
Little Fish Theatre
Through September 3
RECOMMENDED
You don’t have to be familiar with Chekhov’s plays to enjoy the latest offering by Little Fish Theatre in San Pedro —Christopher Durang’s sometimes-zany, sometimes-absurdist, and often-funny Tony award-winning comedy, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Still, your enjoyment will likely be enhanced if you are at least somewhat familiar with the Russian playwright’s work.
Durang cherry picks (pun intended) lines or themes from such Chekhov masterpieces as The Cherry Orchard, Uncle Vanya and The Seagull. His Vanya (Mark Piatelli) and Sonia (Amanda Karr) are siblings in their 50s who lead a life of ennui in contemporary Bucks County, Pa, after having cared for their ailing parents for 25 years. Vanya laments that it is “our cross to bear” that their parents, both professors, named their offspring after characters in Chekhov‘s plays.
Masha (Annie Vest), a successful and insecure middle-aged actor, comes to visit her siblings with hunky boy toy Spike (Nathaniel Weiss) in tow. She has financially supported her out-of-work siblings for years but now has designs to sell the house, much to the chagrin of Vanya and Sonia
Also in the mix are two other characters — housekeeper Cassandra (Susie McCarthy), a psychic who is constantly — and over-the-top dramatically — warning of dangers (often correctly), and Nina (Blair Elise), a young, idealistic wannabe actor enthralled by Masha but nonetheless seen by her as a threat to her romance with Spike.
The heart of the play is the conflict between the siblings, most particularly Sonia and Masha. Sonia has long resented being ignored by, and in the shadow of, her famous sister, while Masha would rather not be around her glum siblings.
There are plenty of funny lines in Vanya; and it’s also entertaining to observe where the action takes its characters (though a good 20 minutes could be cut from the script).
The actors are all excellent and have great fun breathing life into their characters. Piatelli captures the gentleness and peacemaking qualities of Vanya beautifully. We see him most passionate in a long and nostalgic monologue in which he laments the loss of “shared national TV shows” such as I Love Lucy and Ozzie and Harriet. But, as well done as the monologue is, it’s a bit puzzling because it feels as if it came out of nowhere.
Karr shines as Sonia, particularly when doing an impression of Maggie Smith. The play’s most touching moment is her part of a pivotal telephone call in which she captures a sweet vulnerability that we hadn’t seen before.
Although Masha is a stereotypically aging diva, Vest nevertheless portrays her with affection. And Weiss captures perfectly the equally clichéd pretty-but-dumb actor who almost got cast in Entourage 2.
Director Cylan Brown makes good use of a spacious set in his staging of the actors. As a set designer with an eye for detail, Minolae Jain creates a scenic composition that feels authentic as a typically middle-class home in Bucks County.
And that home is inhabited by a pair of siblings who lament they’ve never really lived but who, by the end, declare “There’s always hope.”
Little Fish Theatre, 777 S. Centre St., San Pedro. Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. Through Sept. 3. littlefishtheatre.org or call (310) 512-6030. Running time: 2 hours and 30 minutes with a 15-minute intermission.
