Life Sucks.

C-

Playwright Aaron Posner has built a reputation adapting other authors’ works. Among those to have received the Posner treatment are Chaim Potok (I saw My Name Is Asher Lev several years ago and enjoyed it), Ken Kesey, Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut and, most recently, Anton Chekhov. First off was Stupid Fucking Bird, his take on The Seagull, which was well received. Then came No Sisters, his version of Three Sisters, which I don’t think has been seen in New York. Most recently, there is Life Sucks. which the program describes as “sort of adapted from Uncle Vanya.” Its Wheelhouse Theater Company production was dubbed a Critic’s Pick by the Times, so the show is now enjoying an encore run on Theatre Row with the same cast except for the title character. I’m afraid that I can’t join in the enthusiasm for the play. Posner’s method seems to involve using the F word as often as possible, adding a few contemporary touches such as a reference to student loans, and breaking the fourth wall not only to address the audience but to interrogate it. The list of characters mostly follows Chekhov except that family dependent “Waffles” has become “Pickles,” a lesbian, and Vanya’s mother has been replaced by a distant relative Babs, who is the closest thing to a well-adjusted character in the play. The acting is mostly solid. Austin Pendelton’s (Choir Boy) professor appeared so fragile that I feared he might not make it through the play. Kimberly Chatterjee (Pride and Prejudice) is a fine Sonia. Nadia Bowers (Describe the Night) is especially strong as the professor’s complicated wife Ella. Michael Schantz (Fashions for Men) is credible as Dr. Aster. Stacey Linnartz (Strange Bare Facts) does her best in the rather ludicrous role of Pickles. As Babs, Barbara Kingsley (August: Osage County) has almost nothing to do until late in the second act, when she commandeers the play for a lengthy reminiscence and a confession, neither of which remotely relates to Chekhov. Kevin Isola (Our Lady of 121st Street), who joined the cast as Vanya, seemed whinier than necessary. Except for a computer sitting on a table, the set by Brittany Vasta (Happy Birthday, Wanda Jane) with Tiffany lamps, floral wall hangings, generic furniture and a conspicuously unfinished back wall imprinted with instructions for the stagehands, could be anywhere anytime since the advent of electricity. The costumes by Christopher Metzger (Happy Birthday, Wanda Jane) are also nonspecific as to time or place. The direction by Jeff Wise (Happy Birthday, Wanda Jane) at times seemed sluggish, at other times indulgent. Aside for a few moments, such as the confrontation scene between Ella and Vanya, I was rarely moved. Perhaps if I had not seen Richard Nelson’s fine version at Hunter College this past season, I might have been more forgiving. In any case, this was not my cup of tea. Running time: two hours 30 minutes including intermission.

Describe the Night

B+

Atlantic Theater Company is presenting the New York premiere of Rajiv Joseph’s (Guards at the Taj, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo) play that blends fact and fiction, realism and surrealism in an intricate story covering the period between 1920 and 2010 in Russia, Poland and East Germany. With only eight characters, it may not qualify as an epic but it is certainly an ambitious and complex work. Four of the leading characters are based on historical figures: famed Russian writer Isaac Babel (Danny Burstein), Soviet Secret Police chief Nikolai Yezhov (Zach Grenier), Yezhov’s wife Yevgenia (Tina Benko) and an ambitious young KGB agent nicknamed Vova (Max Gordon Moore). Babel and Yezhov meet in Poland in 1920 and become unlikely friends. Sparks fly when Babel meets Yevgenia. We also meet Feliks (Stephen Stocking), a car rental agent, and Mariya (Nadia Bowers; The Farnsworth Invention), a journalist, who are witnesses to the mysterious plane crash in 2010 that wiped out most of the Polish government. Mrs. Petrovna (Bowers again) is Mariya’s landlady. Urzula (Rebecca Naomi Jones; Marie and Rosetta, Big Love) is a young East German singer who wants to escape to the West in 1989. The playwright follows the basic facts of the relationship between Babel and the Yezhovs fairly closely up to 1940, but puts his own fantastical spin on the Yezhovs’ fate. The story jumps around in time and place and challenges the audience to follow along. There are scenes that are quite dramatic, others that are very funny and a few that don’t have much impact but are necessary to connect the dots. The title of the play comes from Babel’s direction to himself in his writing journal. The travels of this journal over 90 years form the backbone of the play. To say more about the plot would risk spoiling the pleasure of discovery. Zach Grenier (33 Variations, Storefront Church), Tina Benko (The Crucible, Scenes from a Marriage) and Max Gordon Moore (Indecent, Man from Nebraska) are a pleasure to watch. While I admire Danny Burstein (Fiddler on the Roof, Golden Boy) for his willingness to take risks, he seems miscast here. The main design feature of the set by Tim Mackabee (The Penitent, Guards at the Taj) remains unused for most of the play. The period costumes by Amy Clark (Chaplin) are excellent. Giovanna Sardelli (Animals out of Paper) directs with a sure hand. While I found the play intellectually satisfying, it did not engage me fully at the emotional level. The characters seem more like pieces of a puzzle than individuals worthy of empathy. Nevertheless, it offers a stimulating theatrical experience. Running time: two hours 55 minutes including two intermissions.