Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Women waywardly finding their purpose: Dianne Wiest in SCENE PARTNERS and Lameece Issaq in A GOOD DAY TO ME NOT TO YOU

• By drediman
• November 16, 2023
• No Comments

Opening last night were two new Off-Broadway plays with more than passing similarities. More specifically, both works portray women at later stages in their lives as they waywardly search for purpose and their respective paths to fulfillment and self-realization. Read on for my thoughts on these fascinating character studies.

SCENE PARTNERS
Vineyard Theatre
Through December 17

First up at the Vineyard Theatre is Scene Partners (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) by John J. Caswell. Starring a beguiling Dianne Wiest as an older widow determined to re-invent herself as a Hollywood film star, the new play seems a cross between Billy Wilder’s 1950 classic Sunset Boulevard and the harrowing subplot of Ellen Burstyn’s character in Darren Aronofsky’s 2000 film Requiem for a Dream – both feature women of a certain age whose delusional aspirations lead to tragic ends. The fascinating thing about Caswell’s new play is how objectively it examines delusional tendencies, neither glorifying nor condoning such behavior. By thoroughly blurring the boundary between so-called reality and fabrication, Scene Partners unfolds like a hallucinatory hall of mirrors in which there is no right side up. Although some theatergoers may find the lack of narrative clarity frustrating, I found the playwright’s daring excavation into human nature to be more illuminating of its nuances than merely confounding (the same can be said of Caswell’s last play, the equally dense and disorienting Wet Brain). And when combined with a stage stylist of the caliber of director Rachel Chavkin – whose production bombards the senses – and an actress as fearless as the great Ms. Wiest, you get an unsettling theatrical experience that’s combustible.

A GOOD DAY TO ME NOT TO YOU
Waterwell at the Connelly Theatre
Through December 9

Also opening last night at the Connelly Theatre was Waterwell’s production of A Good Day to Me Not to You (SOMEWHAT RECOMMENDED). Written and performed by Lameece Issaq, the solo show chronicles a 40-something-year-old woman’s attempt at reclaiming her life after having lost her job, her home, and her family – an endeavor that proves much more difficult than she anticipated. Despite the best of intentions and a positive attitude, her consistent inability to succeed lands increasingly excruciating blows, eventually leading to her to perform some desperate and unsavory acts. Although this sort of reminder that life sometimes offers up more disappointments than rewards can be a bit of a hard pill to swallow, it’s the kind of tough sentiment that live theater can be so effective in conveying in a clear-eyed manner. As the play’s “everywoman”, Issaq has the down-to-earth qualities as an actress to pull off such an unremarkable woman, even if her transitions into other characters are a tad too laid back. Where both the play and the performer struggle is finding the right tone to simultaneously pull off jovial comedy and dark psychological drama, both of which the show seems to aspire towards. Even with the help an astute director like Lee Sunday Evans, A Good Day to Me Not to You ultimately fails to fully succeed as either, landing somewhat uncomfortably in the middle (which is perhaps Issaq’s larger point about life in general).