Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Invigorating leading actresses light up the stage: Mary Beth Fisher in SWING STATE and Kellie Overbey in NO GOOD THINGS DWELL IN THE FLESH

• By drediman
• September 21, 2023
• No Comments

This past week, I had the opportunity to attend a pair of plays that were invigorated by performances from their leading actresses. Read on for my further thoughts.

SWING STATE
Audible Theater at the Minetta Lane Theatre
Through October 23

First up at the Minetta Lane Theatre was Audible Theater’s Off-Broadway production of Swing State by Rebecca Gilman (RECOMMENDED). The staging comes to New York by way of the renowned Goodman Theatre in Chicago, where it was originally presented as the latest in a long line of collaborations between Gilman and director Robert Falls (the Goodman’s longtime and outgoing artistic director). There’s no doubt of Gilman’s talent in crafting well-made plays, which is evident here as it was in previous efforts such as Boy Gets Girl and Spinning Into Butter. But in her latest — to be sure, a solid, compelling play through and through — about a middle aged woman silently coping with the death of her husband in a pandemic/post-pandemic world, playwright’s manipulating hand in the proceedings isn’t always safely out of sight. Thankfully, the superb Mary Beth Fisher — for years now, one of Chicago’s foremost stalwart actresses — imbues the central character with an unforced lucidity and a lived in quality that goes a long way in camouflaging the play’s internal machinations, particularly under Falls’s unobtrusive direction. Almost working at Fisher’s level is Anne E. Thompson as a rookie cop with only the best of intentions.

NO GOOD THINGS DWELL IN THE FLESH
A.R.T./New York Theatres
Through September 23

Then over at A.R.T./New York Theatres, I was also able to take in No Good Things Dwell in the Flesh (RECOMMENDED) by Christina Masciotti. The play tells the story of one Agata, an aging middle-aged immigrant tailor (the character is based on a woman that the playwright actually knew in real life) must navigate the closure of shop in Queens. Although there’s undeniable richness in Masciotti’s language, there’s also something generally unfocused and under-developed about the play that detracts from its net impact (e.g., the secondary narrative thread involving Agata’s assistant lacks texture and simply fizzles in end). Luckily, Kellie Overbey as Agata creates a staunch, clinched jaw character that’s so thoroughly convincing that it mostly eclipses — probably for the best — the play’s other stories and themes. It’s an astonishing performance that holds the play and the production (Rory McGregor’s direction comes across more as threadbare than stylishly minimalist) together with its depth and tough poetry. Also excellent is T. Ryder Smith as Vlad, a problematic chauvinistic ex-live interest of Agata’s whose deteriorating mental state is heartrendingly depicted. Both portrayals strike an authentic chord — no small feat, that — that deems the piece worthwhile.