Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Assessing a pair of Off-Broadway revivals: An overwrought MERCHANT OF VENICE and a crystalline mounting of ORSON’S SHADOW

• By drediman
• December 13, 2024
• No Comments

In this midst of this busy fall/winter theater season, I had the chance to take a pair of Off-Broadway revivals that stealthily opened in the East Village. Here are my thoughts.

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE
Arlekin Players Theatre at Classic Stage Company
Through December 22

Down at Classic Stage Company’s Off-Broadway space just southeast of Union Square, you’ll find Igor Golyak’s confounding production of The Merchant of Venice (SOMEWHAT RECOMMENDED) for Arlekin Players Theatre (the staging is a rental and not to be confused as a CSC presentation). Using the same cast as Golyak’s production of Our Class — which ran at the same venue earlier this fall — this version of Shakespeare’s play distinguishes itself by attempting to address the work’s complicated legacy and lean in on its original categorization as a comedy. To accomplish these goals, the revival — more of an adaptation, really — presents the play as unfolding within live taping sessions of a variety of live television shows (e.g., talk shows, game shows, the news, etc.), in the process streamlining the Bard’s text to its bare essentials. Sadly, this framework muddles the proceedings rather than putting things in focus. As if to dial up the comedy aspect, Golyak busies the play with numerous other gimmicks (e.g. R-rated use of puppetry, which we’ve seen used before to much more potent hilarity). The “throw the kitchen sink at it” approach signals a director in desperation, as if hoping that the distractions would incite some sort of stimulation. The opposite effect, instead, is achieved — overwrought and chaotic, the schizophrenic production ultimately proves numbing. Credit must be given to the game cast, who valiantly endeavor to keep this sinking ship afloat.

ORSON’S SHADOW
Axial Theatre, Oberon Theatre Ensemble, and Strindberg Rep at Theater for the New City
Closed

On the other end of the spectrum is the 25th anniversary revival — courtesy of the collective efforts of Axial Theatre, Oberon Theatre Ensemble, and Strindberg Rep — of Orson’s Shadow (RECOMMENDED) by Austin Pendleton at Theater for the New City, which is also located in the East Village just a few blocks away from CSC’s premises. First performed by Chicago’s storied Steppenwolf Theatre Company, the play revisits a very specific episode in the lives of three weighty icons of entertainment — director Orson Wells (played by Brad Fryman), film actress Vivian Leigh (Natalie Menna), and legendary Shakespearean Laurence Olivier (Ryan Tramont) — as they strive for their own idea of artistic integrity. Throw into the mix the instigating presence of English theater critic Kenneth Tynan (Patrick Hamilton), and actress Joan Plowright (Cady McClain), and you get a clashing of the egos that’s as entertaining as it is illuminating. Although the play admittedly caters to audience members who are familiar with these historical figures, Pendleton’s writing can be appreciated on its own for its considerable wit and incisiveness. Even the various inside references are tastefully incorporated into the fabric of the play. The acting across the board is pitch-perfect, seemingly convincing facsimiles of these giant personalities. And as directed by Pendleton and David Schweizer, Orson’s Shadow comes across crystalline and elegantly spare.