tk+Vanya+and+Sonia+Critique

Taylor Keller THEA 2000 Richmond 25 Feb. 2017 Vayna and Sonia Critique  Just to start off this critique I wanted to say how happy I am to be in this class because I love theater so much and having to be immersed to all different kinds of plays is such an amazing experience. I was extra excited to see this play because in high school comedy was my favorite type of theater and it was nice to mix it up compared to the last play (A Long Christmas Ride Home) because it had so many heavy topics. This play was a lot lighter and more farcical. For this critique I thought I would answer the questions asked on the study guide because they really review everything I wanted to recap on how I felt upon the play.

 I am going to come out and say it. This play was meant for someone who understands and has some sort of knowledge on the history of theater. There were so many references on Chekhov, Aeschylus, Stanislavski, etc. Having Christopher Durang write the script directing so many of the main jokes to references of these men really narrowed the audience down to who could fully enjoy this play. I thought the jokes were funny because I have taken many classes on the history of theater and it’s beginnings, but I know people who just love watching theater and do not know anything about the history in the slightest. There were references to Greek plays they were mentioning and jokes that went along with it that I did not even understand. I think narrowing on such an audience of theater appreciation people was risky for a pay wright, but ultimately an artistic choice made on purpose. This play was only to be enjoyed by a certain audience or Durang did not think to widen the joke material to a broader topic everyone could enjoy. Either way, I enjoyed personally because I understood them.

 When describing Cassandra, I would definitely call her kooky. Although she was kooky with her visions and loud presence, I thought the actress really lit up the stage. Every time she was stage, my attention was always drawn to her because of her excellent facial expressions and commitment to her character. Her character did not show the exact same realism as the rest if the characters, but I thought hers was actually one of the most believable characters. With working with comedy before, I could tell her comedic timing was perfection as well as using a variety of vocal strategies and body movements. Of course you do not meet a housekeeper everyday who is sassy and thinks she can see your whole future, but I enjoyed her farcical nature more than Masha and Spike. Her stage presence is what actors strive for and she was honestly my favorite character regardless of how “realistic” her type of character was. She executed her comedic lines almost perfectly and made a crazy character seem realistic in her own way.

 Spike’s name did make him seem different than the other characters. He of course was younger than the other characters which Durang chose to also play him as less mature. Personally, I do not find immature/dumb roles as funny so he was my least favorite character. I just do not in the slightest think that someone would start doing the opposite of a strip tease in all seriousness. I know the script calls for it, but his jokes were just not funny to me. Spike also made him seem like he would be a badass because that sounds like a biker name, but he seemed so flamboyant and not masculine in the slightest. I guess that was supposed to be a part of the gag, but that just was not very funny to me. Physical humor only goes so far for me and I feel like an easy cop out compared to making conversation funny.

 The costume of Dopey made Sonia feel unimportant character not only in the theme for the costume party, but also in her life. She was always on the back burner and never in the main spotlight like she thought she deserved. With Masha always being the diva in the family where her life seemed to play out in the most glamorous way, Sonia had to be the “supporting character” (like Dopey) and take care of her parents. Less focus was on her. I thought the actress who played Sonia was phenomenal and really took the reins on such a fun role to play. With so many things she had to do like breaking the cups (twice) and changing voices she kept character even in parts I know I would be cracking up about. At times it felt as if things he said about self-pity felt very repetitive, but I think that was less the actress and more of how the play was written. Having her not dress up as Dopey and taking charge in not only her costume but her life was a pivotal scene in the play and really allowed her to break her shell of making her life worth something. I think that message speaks to a lot of people who are stuck in a rut and know they can do more with their lives and the actress allowed a funny character to give such an important message to us.

 Vanya, Vanya, Vanya… His character really surprised me the most. I thought he was more of a straight part to keep the play where there isn’t just all very big and farcical characters making it seem completely unbelievable to the audience. When finally he exploded I almost wanted to clack for him because as I wrote, Spike annoyed me a lot as a character. That actor played age every well compared to everyone else and seemed to play older the most believable. That was a long monologue and not once did it seem like he stutter or even look like he had to think about what he was saying. I felt like I was actually watching someone being so passionate about how much times have changed. I know that a lot of the references I couldn’t pick up on because I did not grow up anywhere near the 50s, but I still could pick up on most of it or fill in the dots. I love when I can tell the passion in a monologue and can feel it and their rage within them. I think having that long monologue makes him so much more complex than just a boring straight character those tones down the rest of the cast when they are going a little wild. There was some sort of rage building up within him that makes me look back and analyze all the scenes he was in before and wonder if there were signs to him building up to it. The execution of the monologue was fantastic, but I still feel like adding it into the play was somewhat random and unexpected because nothing was mentioned earlier in the play, but it was still the best scene in the play.  Masha wants everyone to dress up as characters in Snow White because she always had her way her whole life. Being the diva she is she has never known anything but getting her way. I liked how much her characters contrasted with everyone else. She was so confident and dramatic. I did not like how unrealistic she was. I felt like she overdid the accent and I understood that she was supposed to be like a typical cliché dramatic actress, but after a while it got old.

 I think having Sonia end up with a date from Joe was the sweetest wrap-up to a loose end. Her phone call with him was so sincere and made me wish the play could continue. I feel like it would have ended up well because Sonia finally grew into loving herself and stopped feeling sorry for herself. Once again, Sonia played a very sincere character which you felt for and was rooting for her the whole time.

 Overall, there was aspects I loved like the monologue at the end and comedic timing of Cassandra. There was also things I did not love like how he wrote this play for more of an audience for play history lovers and how Spike was so overdone. I've never seen a play in the Cellar Theater and I hope to see many more because it felt so intimate having it so small and you could really dive into the characters’ lives being so close to them.