Jeff Brackett, William Mullin (in the back), and Jennifer Cabral camp it up in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.
Photo: Bob Tucker/Focalpoint
Review by Steve Desroches
It’s a long way from Moscow to Bucks County, Pennsylvania, but in the Provincetown Theater’s current production of Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, the journey to the heart of the story isn’t via geography, but rather the human spirit and the shackles we can place on ourselves with the key to unlock them hidden somewhere in our psyche. With a top-notch ensemble, this hilarious and heart-warming farce is a potent antidote to the confusing and frightening world in which we live.
With direct references to the work of Russian writer Anton Chekhov, knowledge of his canon is not at all necessary to appreciate this masterful story. Middle-aged siblings Sonia and Vanya, played beautifully by Jennifer Cabral and William Mullin, live together in their childhood home where they stayed taking care of their now-deceased academic parents, and in the process forgot to have lives. Giving both hilarity and heartbreak, sometimes at the same time, Cabral and Mullin lean perfectly into the melodrama without chewing the scenery, but give the right amount of teething on it. Both deliver spectacular performances when they have their respective monologues, which reveal much about these characters and the layers beneath the drudgery of their lives that are about to open up.
Their boring existence is thrown into chaos when their sister Masha, a successful, self-absorbed actress whose career is teetering, comes home with her gorgeous, younger lover, Spike. Susan Lambert gives a nuanced performance that keeps Masha from being a villain, allowing the humor to flow through her character’s narcissism, and Jeff Brackett plays beefy and simple to perfection, portraying the kind of fling that seems like a really fun amusement park ride that eventually you want to get off…off of the ride that is. The familial drama is further thrown into stark relief with Cassandra, the clairvoyant cleaning lady played with a fun ferocity by Hilarie Tamar, and Nina, a sweet and beautiful young neighbor played by Lena Moore, who wonderfully captures the innocence and naivete of her character who doesn’t realize the threat she is to Masha and the temptation she is to Spike.
Absurdist theater requires a gifted cast to pull it off correctly, and this production succeeds in spades. The zippy narrative and the evolution of the characters as individuals, and as a family, is driven home under the direction of David Drake, who knows how to get each actor to realize their full potential in such a beautiful way. The set design by Jenni Baldwin is built to perfection as she creates a home that is so believable as the abode of two of university professors that you can smell the pipe tobacco, old books, and regret. Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is nothing but well-crafted fun. Don’t miss it!
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is at the Provincetown Theater, 238 Bradford St., Monday through Thursday at 7 p.m. now through August 28. Tickets ($55) are available at the box office and online at provincetowntheater.org. For more information call 508.487.7487.
