Vanya+and+Sonia+and+Masha+and+Spike+Review-+Haley+Clark

Haley Clark THEA2000 Dr. Richmond 2/27/17

__“Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” Review__ I saw the opening night performance of University Theatre’s “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” and enjoyed every moment of it. Having seen a lackluster, abbreviated version of the play at a high school One Act competition, I was thrilled to finally be seeing the full show actually performed //well,// and it surpassed all of my expectations.

The play is about a dysfunctional family of adults, all named after characters from Chekov plays, and the trials and tribulations of their relationships with one another. The story begins in Vanya and Sonia- a brother and sister in their late fifties’- living room as they complain about their mundane lives, until their famous movie star sister Masha visits with her handsome yet idiotic young boy toy, Spike. Upon Masha’s arrival, the drama begins, as they all struggle to compromise and agree as family members in a series of arguments and misadventures. In the end, they are able to see themselves in each others’ shoes and finally get along. The story is one of self discovery and finding the “middle ground.”

The author, Christopher Durang, does a fantastic job at telling the story of the three siblings and the people associated with them. While the dialogue is packed with comedy and hilarious interactions between the characters, the humor never takes away from the character development or the arch of the story, yet it adds value to it. Although the play is clearly meant to be comedic and thrives off laughs and positive reactions from the audience, Durang did an exceptional job of balancing the fun with the overarching message of the play, the story never being hindered by a cheap joke. The comedy was smart and created identities for each of the differing characters’ personalities, developing the storyline.

While I loved each and every scene of “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” the subject matter of the show wasn’t very complex. The set was a unit set of the siblings’ living room, meaning that the whole play takes place in one setting. The subject matter is best described as the altercations and squabbles between each of the characters, eventually leading to harmony among the family. If I had to place the play into a genre, I would say it is an American Domestic Comedy, a show about real life struggles of real people in America with a funny twist. Plays in the Domestic genre are not always about earth shattering actions and crazy story arches, rather about the development of each of the characters and their journeys in the play; naturally, the subject matter of this show wasn’t the most riveting, but the comedy and message in the end made up for it with flying colors. With this being said, to make the subject matter worth while, I would have liked a little more action to take place or maybe a change of scenery.

I loved every acting choice that the performers made. While some of the characters were more prominent in the show than others, each made their mark on the story and brought a new comedic element to the play. One of my favorite elements of the characters that Durang wrote was that each of them had their own incredibly distinct personality; not one member of the cast had the same personality or the same tendencies, setting each character apart from one another and creating comedic diversity among the actors. This elevated the comedy of the show, as each of the characters’ reactions were wildly different from one another’s. This idea of drastically contrasting personalities was perfectly portrayed by the actors of this production. Sonia was shy, timid and sweet, Vanya was bitter and grouchy, yet creative, Masha was dramatic and entitled, Spike was absent minded and idiotic, Cassandra was cynical and crazy, and Nina was sweet and innocent. These were the first traits that came to mind when I thought of each of the characters, and as you can probably see, they are incredibly diverse and spread across the personality spectrum. The actors in each of the roles captured the essence of each of their characters excellently and portrayed Durang’s concept with ease.

As I previously mentioned, the set was a unit set fixed in Vanya and Sonia’s living room. The set was incredibly realistic and detailed, from the soot on the back of the stone fireplace wall, to the Chekov play posters on the walls. I thought the physical aspects of the play such as the set, props, lighting, etc. were //more// than adequate in contributing to the story. Each element of the set dressing contributed to the characters of Sonia and Vanya and gave the audience an idea of the kind of people they were based on how they lived. You could tell their ages by the dated furniture and their love for theatre by the wall hangings. The lighting changed with the time of day, with light emulating the sun rising and coming through the window in the morning and then just general room lighting for others times of day, which created a very realistic feel to the picture. Overall, I loved the physical elements of the play and could not think of a better way to tell the story through the set or the technical components.

The audience’s response to the play was enormous. Every single bit of the comedy of the play was translated seamlessly by the actors and the audience took to it like white on rice; there was never a three-minute period without laughter. While I only heard the opinions of my friends at intermission, they all loved it as much as I did, and my opinion of the show continued to get better into the second act. I can honestly say that I have never heard an audience laugh so much in any other play or musical that I have been to see, and this can be accredited to the excellent job that the actors did with their line delivery and comedic timing and Christopher Durang’s hilarious book.

After seeing this production of “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” I //absolutely// encouraged everyone I knew that liked theatre to see the show, even some of my friends that aren’t theatre people. The great thing about this show is that it’s relatable //and// hilarious so people who don’t necessarily know much about theatre can still enjoy it. After every show I see that I enjoy, I make sure to talk highly about it to everyone I can, because I would hope that my peers would do the same after seeing a show that I’m in. I want everyone to support the arts, especially if the show is as amazing as “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” was. On the flip side of that, if I don’t like a show, I’m never shy to share that with people either.

Because of how much I loved the dialogue and story of “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” I am very interested in reading other works by Christopher Durang. I have a very high opinion of him as a playwright and love his unique comedic style. There is no doubt in my mind as to why this show was a huge hit on Broadway, winning the 2013 Tony award for Best Play. I am eager to read several of Durang’s works over spring break an expand my knowledge of more wonderful comedic plays. Overall, University Theatre’s production of “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” brought me much laughter and happiness and I’m incredibly glad that I got to see it.