Theater Review: Personal Politics Light Up ‘After The Revolution’
Monday, September 24, 2012
Rhode Island theater-goers owe Tony Estrella a finder’s fee.
It would be just the beginning of thanks to The Gamm Theatre’s artistic director for introducing local audiences to the considerable gifts of playwright Amy Herzog, whose 2010 work, After The Revolution, is now playing in a top-flight production there.
With this season opener, The Gamm deepens its reputation for producing new works that eschew artistic novelty for enduring merit. Estrella has a great ear for what makes rich and rewarding theater; Paul, Howard Brenton’s muscular and moving retelling of the life and imprisonment of the disciple Paul, comes to mind. So does last season’s Boom, a sharp, black comedy about the end of the world. In Herzog’s After the Revolution, the playwright recasts her own past as the child of radical American leftists as a traditional, almost Milleresque family drama. The result is illuminating, resonant, and quietly tragic with repercussions as personal as they are political.
From the political to the personal
Revolution begins with the political. Outspoken radical Emma Joseph (Diana Buirski) is her extended family’s darling on the eve of her law school graduation, having created a legal defense fund both inspired by and named for her Marxist, blacklisted grandfather, Joe. The clan rallies around its third-generation torch-bearer, and all eyes--from Emma’s preeningly earnest high school teacher dad (Jim O’Brien) and her nebbish professor uncle (Chuck Reifler), to her brusquely powerful grandmother (Wendy Overly)--are upon her. The future, at least inside the book-and-tchotchke-lined apartments of her family members, is bright... and red.
Emotional impact
Herzog, only 32 years old, mines deep terrain with dialogue so beautifully natural that the emotional impacts accrue quietly. It’s remarkable to witness this kind of nuance in a writer so young, and particularly about topics as easily overblown (and overwritten) as political ideals. There is not a shred of romanticism in Herzog’s depiction of this family; instead, there is a compassionate but clear view of not only how ideals may drive a family’s culture, but also blind them from seeing the real truths about each other. By Revolution’s end, we’ve seen the Josephs lie to each other and to themselves, and sacrifice the innocence of Emma on the altar of an ideal. It’s both commentary on the price that a movement exacts as well as an indictment of those who use their children to realize their own dreams.
Which is to say, reading a play by Amy Herzog would be reward enough. But Tony Estrella’s production at The Gamm does the work proud by inhabiting it with supple direction and terrific pacing. Revolution never lags, and Estrella provides just enough movement on Patrick Lynch’s excellent set to create visual interest to support but never distract from Herzog’s dynamic dialogue.
Wendy Overly steals this show
And several very strong performances do justice to those lines. Wendy Overly steals this show as Emma's grandmother Vera, with her utterly believable portrayal of an aging radical whose ideals are as sharp as they ever were, no matter what the consequences. Overly is no eye-twinkler here--she’s as serious as a Molotov cocktail; and her Vera is inspiring and fearsome. As Emma’s uncle Leo, Chuck Reifler brings a sweet, rumpled naturalness that skirts cliche at every pass. Karen Carpenter’s Jess, the rehab veteran and black sheep sister to Emma, is equally cliche-free and interesting. As Emma, who must reflect both the aspirations and subtle cruelties of her family’s expectations, Diana Buirski displays a cunning balance of intelligence and innocence (although Buirski might rein in her frequent wide-eyed reactions to events around her... we know how Emma must be taking this).
Finally though, as a fitting balance to Overly’s masterful take as the elder of the Joseph clan, Sam Babbitt delivers a gorgeous portrayal as Morty, an old friend of Emma’s grandfather and Greenwich Village habitue. Babbitt is onstage very little (both times with Buirski, in two marvelous restaurant scenes), but his presence echoes long past curtain, a lingering tenderness devoid of sentimentality, and all the more moving for that.
And what more fitting tribute to the artful work of Amy Herzog, than this? One can only hope that Estrella will continue to track this fine young American playwright and bring more of her work home.
After The Revolution, directed by Tony Estrella, at The Gamm Theatre through October 14. 172 Exchange St, Pawtucket, 401-723-4266. www. gammtheatre.org
For more Arts coverage, don't miss GoLocalTV fresh 24/7, here.