Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Two timely political thrillers at New York City Center: Stephen Sachs’ FATHERLAND and Erika Sheffer’s VLADIMIR

• By drediman
• October 26, 2024
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On consecutive nights at each of the subterranean performance spaces at New York City Center, I was able to attend two works of highly charged political theater that tap into our current collective state of anxiety as we careen into next month’s Presidential Election. As per usual, read on for my thoughts on these timely new plays.

VLADIMIR
Manhattan Theatre Club at New York City Center
Through November 10

First up is Erika Sheffer’s new play Valdimir (RECOMMENDED), Manhattan Theatre Club’s fall offering at its Off-Broadway home at City Center Stage I. Set during the start of Putin’s second term in Russia, the fictitious play tells the story of a relentlessly idealistic journalist who finds her firm moral footing slipping as the country around her descends into indifference and chaos. Although the psycho-political thriller takes place in Russia (largely in Moscow, with detours in Chechnya, as well as New York), the piece draws stark parallels to the political situation here in the United States, functioning as a sort of cautionary tale of what might transpire over the next few years if we were to head down a certain path. Although the play takes its time to get to a boil — the heavy exposition of the first act is a bit of a long slog to sit through — the drama picks up substantially in the play’s compelling latter half as the characters choose their destinies and their stories unfold. Francesca Faridany is ideally cast as the journalist at the heart of the story. It’s a meaty role, which Faridany — one of our most impassioned stage actors (I still vividly recall her voracious performance in the title role of Classic Stage Company’s production of Orlando back in 2010) — gladly sinks her teeth into. She’s ably supported by David Rosenberg and two time Tony-winner Norbert Leo Butz — in a pair of wonderfully contrasting performances — as close colleagues (friends even?) who acquit themselves to proceeding in different directions. Veteran theater director Daniel Sullivan gives the play a noirish staging that appropriately puts as much of the action in the garish multimedia spotlight as it does in the shadowy recesses of Mark Wendland’s labyrinthine set.

FATHERLAND
Fountain Theatre at New York City Center
Through November 23

Then just down a narrow corridor from MTC’s production of Vladimir, you’ll find Fountain Theatre’s Fatherland (RECOMMENDED) at City Center Stage II. Conceived and directed by Stephen Sachs, the fast-paced, incisively staged production arrives in New York for an eleven-week fall run after a successful Los Angeles mounting. In short, the piece tells the true story of an eighteen-year-old son who turns in his father to the FBI because of his involvement in the January 6th insurrection to storm the U.S. Capitol. Interestingly, the piece marks the second instance of verbatim documentary theater I encountered this week (the other was Waterwell’s production of The Ford/Hill Project at the Public Theater) — meaning that every word of the play has been stitched together from public testimonies, official court transcripts (specifically from The United States vs. Guy Wesley Reffitt jury trial), and court evidence (e.g., submitted evidential recordings). Given these parameters, it’s particularly impressive how the work comes across as potently and accessibly as it does as a dramatic thriller, which can be attributed to Sachs’ keen sense of theater. Although the play is set in 2021, it’s nonetheless a powerful reminder of the firm political mindset of much of the country and the unrest that continues to stir just underneath the surface. The production features a quartet of forceful performances, particularly from Patrick Keleher and Ron Bottitta as the son and father, respectively, at the center of the work. Both are convincing and nuanced in their portrayal of a complicated relationship that implodes before our eyes. Rounding out the cast are Anna Khahja as the U.S. attorney and Larry Poindexter as defense attorney on the aforementioned case.