Vanya+and+Sonia+and+Masha+and+Spike+Critique+-+David+Aziz

David Aziz Farley Richmond Intro to Dramatic Arts 25 February 2017 Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike Critique  This play truly hit home for me and was by far, the most relatable play I have seen in my life. The level of humor, acting, and scene were extremely high and well done. This play was about how families can be torn apart when exposed to fame or poverty. Vanya and Sonia lived all their lives taking care of their elderly, dying parents, while Masha lived her life to the fullest and became a superstar actor. The family ties broke over the years and this play demonstrates perfectly how when fame is introduced, all previous connections and bonds are lost. The play was written by Christopher Durang, and he did a fabulous job conducting all these elements in the play, while also making it very comedic. Christopher Durang is a playwright known for his outrageous and absurdly comedic plays. His plays often contain a specific message while also conveying it in a strange way. Durang told this story extremely well and hooked me in right from the beginning of the play. Immediately from the start where Sonia mentions how her father used to call her "his little artichoke" and how he never molested her. I instantly knew this play was going to be very spontaneous and funny. I enjoy comedic plays much more than sad dramatic plays, so this play kept me hooked through all 2 acts. Durang told this story excellently and always found ways to tie in his comedic outbursts smoothly.  The theme and subject of this play really drives home for me since I personally suffer many of the things that Vanya and Sonia do in this play. I too, have an older sibling that is way ahead of me in life and seems to be the true favorite of my parents. I can easily relate to Sonia's jealousy throughout the play when she is often seen as the weak and lesser of the siblings. Sonia simply wants to be accepted as a sibling, instead of being an outcast by Masha. My older sibling often catches the eye of my parents and all of their attention is focused on them, instead of me. So, this subject means a lot to me and plays a very large role in why I stayed hooked during the play. I was anticipating the moment where Sonia finally prevailed and exceeded her older sister, Masha. This was the climax for the play and really turned the second act around. All the actors did a wonderful job conveying this underlying, but crucial, message and motive of the play. Sonia acted truly jealous of Masha and it felt realistic. Nothing seemed like it was overdone except the humor, which is to be expected from Durang. All the supporting characters, including Nina and Cassandra, seemed to follow and convey the playwrights message flawlessly. Masha played the role of her snotty and arrogant famous person very well and I was even starting to get jealous and angry as an audience member. I wanted to stand up and support Sonia because of how well they conveyed their message.  The production itself had a very realistic setting and none of it was imaginative at all. The setting took place in Vanya and Sonia's home which had a fire place and a couch. The couch seemed to look kind of ragged but everything else looked untouched and perfectly setup. Vanya and Sonia spent all their days sitting on that couch, so it was more realistic that it was worn down. A more realistic setting works well with this type of play since all the action takes place in one living room. It would be strange if the play was in an imaginative setting, since it may be confusing trying to distinguish what all the parts meant. I would say that the realism of the setting was superb, and it exceeded my expectation. I had visited the set before it was fully constructed and it looked like an empty stage. It is amazing how much was built and set up by the time the show began running. Down to the last detail, all the things seemed very relevant to the time period. The phone was one of the things that struck me as quite impressive. It looked exactly like the phones I used to have in my home when I was much younger. The clothing was another thing that looked very 80s-90s, and elevated the play more. The clothing they wore distinguished their socio-economic class very well and also fit into their realistic play. I greatly enjoyed how they stuck with their time period and class structure so strictly. There was never a moment in the play where I had to question the directors decision when it came to time period.  The audience around me played a huge role in the way I perceived the play in general. I never noticed how big of a difference an audience can make in a production. The theatre was practically packed and the laughing throughout the play, really drove the message and attitude home. The audience was in an uproar of laughter constantly during the play, which lead me to laugh along with them. After any joke made, the audience laughed for seconds at a time. There were some uncomfortable parts of the play, such as when spike took off his clothes. The audience didn't quite know how to react to this, and it was sort of an awkward silence. Other than the sexual moments on stage, the audience was laughing constantly though the play, which really made the experience very enjoyable. During intermission, many of the audience spoke with one another about the funny moments during the play and how much they were enjoying it. Many of the students there were very surprised at the scenery and acting style of this play, and how well executed it was. This really made me enjoy the play more and more; simply hearing the other audience members so engaged, elevates the play to another level. This was much more engaging of a play than "The Long Christmas Ride Home." I could definitely see myself telling multiple of my friends about this play after viewing it. In fact, I could not stop talking about it to my friends after watching it. I was explaining all the funny elements of the play to them and encouraging them to come watch it for themselves. Often in college level theatre, much of the audience thinks of it as low level and amateur, but instead, it is very well executed. The actors are very well experienced and the scene designers and directors are very active in the professional world. All the negative experiences that may have happened at the high school level of theatre are no longer visible or experienced in a college level production. Along with better actors, the college itself has more money to spend on the art and theatre at this high of a level, which in return, allows for a more enjoyable and complete production. This was exactly the case when going to see the play Vanya. I can strongly recommend going out and witnessing the play for yourself, since much of the humor comes from the emotions of the actors, which cannot be translated into words. Theatre is an ephemeral art, and cannot be reimagined and experienced again. This play was a great work of comedy and I can strongly encourage any of my colleagues to go watch it. I only really talk about plays to my friends if they are really well done and appropriate for them. I find this play extremely well done and have already brought it up to the attention of many of my classmates. Many of the friends I have told about the play, such as in our Theatre class, have enjoyed the play more knowing what they were about to see was very funny and well executed. It allows for a more pleasurable experience as an audience member, when you hear positive reviews of a play before entering to watch it on your own. After watching this play, I am greatly encouraged to see more of the playwright’s work. I decided to go home that same night and look up Durang and what other plays he has composed over his time. I found that many of his plays often relate to extremely outrageous comedy and this caught my attention. It brought my focus on a playwright I may have never realized existed and made him one of my favorite types of authors. His style is extremely unique, which elevates him from the rest of the standardized comedic playwrights. All the others simply blend in and are hard to distinguish. Someone like Durang, try to expose themselves by making plays that are very memorable and can be recognized in an instant. After watching Vanya, I decided to read through many of his other plays and they all had me dying laughing. I have even watched some short clips of his other plays on YouTube to try and experience them live. I am currently working on trying to find out where I can find another one of his productions to go see on stage because of how much I enjoyed Vanya. Overall, being an audience member during this play was a extremely positive experience. I believe the play was very well executed and perfectly explained the purpose of the play. I greatly enjoyed this outrageous comedic style that Durang has created. I can easily recommend going out and watching this production since it can’t be put into words how funny Vanya and Sonia are; Sonia had me dying laughing the entire performance with her small side quotes! This opened my eyes on a different type of theatre I never imagined would catch my attention so much, but I felt completely invested in the play as it went on. I could easily relate to the actors and their characters, especially Sonia’s jealousy. I cannot wait to see my next Durang play in action and laugh until my eyes tear up.