Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – The variety afforded by Off-Broadway theater: The stage adaptation of Philip Roth’s SABBATH’S THEATER and Brittany K. Allen’s REDWOOD

• By drediman
• November 5, 2023
• No Comments

This past weekend, I was struck by how different approaches to playwriting can yield to drastically vascillating experiences. To me, this illustrated both theater’s chameleonic ability to shape-shift from production to production and its inherent inclusivity. Although each has their merits and drawbacks, it’s ultimately up to the theater-goers themselves to decide which approaches speak to them most potently. Luckily, theater thrives on such variety, particularly Off-Broadway. Read on for my own personal preferences as it pertains to two current Off-Broadway plays.

REDWOOD
Ensemble Studio Theatre
Through November 12

First up at Ensemble Studio Theatre is Brittany K. Allen’s solidly acted new play Redwood (SOMEWHAT RECOMMENDED). The work’s central dilemma is whether there’s much to be gained from investigating one’s racial background and family origins, knowing that there might be negative consequences to attaining such knowledge. In the play, a seemingly well-adjusted Black family is faced with such a proposition, namely as it relates to their tangled history with a White family that had once owned their forebears (no spoilers here). All this is filtered through the lens of a budding interracial relationship, the welfare of which is put at jeopardy when the truths about the past are uncovered. To be sure Allen’s play is an “issues” play through and through, and the probing questions it raises are certainly worth exploring. Although its problem statement is clearly laid out by the playwright and director Mikhaela Mahony — perhaps a tad too patly — I found that this led to telegraphed, only occasionally convincing drama. And besides a genuinely three dimensional gay uncle, the work’s characters for the most part merely serve as pawns for Allen’s worthwhile — albeit prescriptive — thesis.

SABBATH’S THEATER
The New Group at Pershing Square Signature Center
Through December 17

On the other end of the spectrum at the Pershing Square Signature Center is The New Group’s stage adaptation of Philip Roth’s award winning 1995 novel Sabbath’s Theater (RECOMMENDED). Adapted by Ariel Levy and John Turturro (who also appears as the title character), the play tells the story of one Mickey Sabbath, an aging, out-of-work womanizer and former puppeteer whose life comes to a crisis point when the prostitute he has formed a stunted romantic relationship with passes away. In stark contrast to the sturdy moral compass provided by Redwood, Sabbath’s Theater basks in the moral murkiness of its degenerate antihero, leaving it up to the audience to come to their on conclusions. Also in contrast to Allen’s play is how it meanders novelistically, as if a rambling fever dream. Although strangely compelling as an unflinching portrayal of toxic masculinity, some may find the work’s gratuitous decreptitude distasteful. Director Jo Bonney gives the adaptation a shrewd staging, unfussily framing the production’s three fantastic performances. As Mickey, Turturro gives a magnetic, thoroughly sinister performance — a wicked, modern day Falstaff of sorts — that you simply can’t take your eyes off of. The same can be said of the intensity that the great Elizabeth Marvel emits every time she’s on stage. Providing a refreshing counterpoint is the steady work by Jason Kravits in various roles.