Vivien

Reviewed by Neal Weaver

Percy Grainger’s long one-act tells the neo-Chekhovian tale of an unusual father and son relationship. Theatre director Paul (Ilia Volok) last saw his father Vivien (Craig Braun) when he was only 10 years old.  His only real memory of his Dad seems to be of the day the old man was committed to a mental institution. For 40 years, Paul’s mother has refused to tell him where his father is. Now he has learned that Vivien is in a psychiatric hospital 50 miles from Seattle.

To facilitate a reunion with Dad, Paul has accepted a directing gig in Seattle. And on the day of the official opening of his show, he’s arranged to visit Vivien and take him into town to see a matinee of his production, but things don’t go as planned. Vivien seems remote and hostile, and refuses to acknowledge that Paul is his son. “You’re not Paul,” he insists, before fleeing.

Paul is about to drive away, frustrated and disappointed, when Vivien returns and climbs into his car. The rest of the play depicts Vivien’s growing trust, and the attempts of the two to revive an almost non-existent relationship.

Grainger emphasizes the influence of Chekhov at every turn: the play Paul has directed in Seattle is The Seagull, and after the show, Vivien pronounces judgement on it. “Not enough plot,” he says. Perhaps it’s Grainger’s attempt to disarm comments on his own paucity of action. Grainger writes interesting and touching scenes — there’s a very funny moment when the two men briefly bond over a mariachi number on the car radio — though the authenticity of their delicate bond is sometimes undermined by glaring illogic. Why does the hospital arrange for Paul to pick up Vivien at a nearby bus-stop in the middle of a rainstorm, rather than having him checked out in an orthodox fashion from the hospital? This is extremely cavalier treatment for a patient who was, ’till recently, confined to a maximum security ward.

Director Tracey Silver (who also plays a tough but sympathetic ward nurse) limns the growing sympathy between the two men with sensitivity, and Volok and Braun play the piece with skill and credibility.

Acting Artists Theatre, 7313 Santa Monica Boulevard, Hlywd.; Sat.-Sun., 3 & 8 p.m.; through May 25. (323) 960-7770, www.plays411.com/vivien. (Neal Weaver)