I rarely see plays in which there are no weakly-presented characters and all actors fuse seamlessly with the spirit of their reproductions. In Vanya, written by Sam Holcroft and directed by Charles Giardina ’12, the exemplary performances from all sides made for a beautifully tight show. In thyis four-person piece, I expected the two seniors performing their 700 work — Cori Hundt ’11 and Michael Kessler ’11 — to be the only ones to have meticulously sculpted the minute idiosyncrasies of gesture and speech that both make their characters convincing and gracefully flaunt their insightful acting skills. To my surprise, the other two actors were just as perfectly cast; Noah Berman ’13 played the pain-riddled Vanya, and Molly O’Keefe ’12.5 walked the challenging line of protagonist and antagonist as the lovely, insecure but ultimately untrue Yelena.
O’Keefe managed both to drive back the audience with her unwaveringly stoic face and adulterous deeds and reel us in with her near-hysterical monologue about the universal desire to feel beautiful and significant to someone. She was able to switch between the distant, removed gaze of antagonistic eyes and the fiery, vulnerable eyes of a pleading human. Berman was spot-on for Uncle Vanya, and his psychological struggle easily stirred a great deal of emotion. With plausible pain, he played a man coming to terms with the missed connections in his life and realizing too late that his compliance with an unhappy life was his own fault.
Many moments of hilarity and some of the best acting came from Kessler, who played a doctor named Astrov. The true strengths of this play were very small, minute gestures and nuanced intonation; Kessler was responsible for many of these as he played the enthusiastically pretentious intellect, rattling on about social patterns and the increasing isolation and resulting self-destruction of man. He took those stretches of script and tailored them perfectly for the character of Doctor Astrov, his hands flying in familiar ways, shaping the words of the philosophy in front of him and alerting us to the character’s true nature. The style he conveyed for Astrov was curiously recognizable, perhaps because we encounter it every day in this college environment, where many of us, in the course of our studies, find some theory to be passionate about and describe it to a fellow classmate in exactly the same way — gesticulating restlessly to make our words seem valid. This is certainly an accomplishment on Kessler’s part, because his performance highlighted Giardina’s director note about “making these characters real people” and urged the audience to “judge the beings in these portraits as you would yourself in a mirror.”
As the one who brought this play to the College, Hundt’s role should certainly be commended as well. This story was a perfect challenge to tackle and truly wonderful to watch, and her vision to bring it to life here was well-realized. It had a comfortable time, clipped along at a nice pace and was performed in the extremely fitting space of the Hepburn Zoo. The elements came together so nicely that the audience could even maintain enough attention to start processing and reflecting upon the complex message of the play while it ran, a quality that doesn’t always occur if a performance is rife with distractions or design missteps. As for her acting, Hundt continually progressed with her character, Sonya, through the piece, from naïve, breezy girl to anguished keeper of hope amidst the spiraling lives of the jaded people around her. She was quite tireless, beginning with an easier portrayal and then carefully adding layers of intricacy to Sonya’s expressions. Her acting evolution was critical in building the tensions in a realistic manner so that the final scene maintained believability during the most extravagantly passionate moments. Hundt had a lanky, elastic, endearing quality onstage that reminded me of a young Katie Holmes on television in the 90s, and she was very strong in this role.
The set design was the product of the 700 credit work of Mindy Marquis ’11. The best feature was a gorgeous cris-crossing wall of lace fabric that served as an intriguing backdrop, and the lighting was equally well thought-out. Some of the set pieces, like scattered books and a coffee table, made for some awkward maneuvering on the actors’ part, but at least served a purpose. An herbal cigarette prop was one of the best set choices; as Kessler smoked it in the murky blue glow of the lights, the smoke hung defined in the air, wreathing his head and really enhancing the scene as well as the shadowy, seductive purposes of his character.
Vanya’s admirably strong acting and design assured that the participating students all have the potential to make great theatrical strides in the future. The play had a precise and flawless structure that gave the audience a thought-provoking yet entertaining show. Without a doubt, Vanya can be deemed a success.
"Vanya" triumphs in acting, design
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