What I liked
I’ve seen multiple casts for this show, including Roman Polanski’s film and a bootleg of the original Broadway version that Nina Arianda got her Tony for in 2012
This version successfully breaks the mold and puts a different twist on the characters than the Broadway interpretation most stagings have followed, which kept me hooked in a way that other regional stagings haven’t
Rachael Davis’ version of Vanda is an older woman, jaded and washed up when we meet her, rather than the naive airhead ingenue Arianda played, and likewise Bryan McKinley’s Thomas is more of a nerdy academic than Hugh Dancey being a charming arrogant sleaze — and the fact that Davis towers over McKinley at over six feet tall means this staging leans into the transgressive image of dominatrix vs submissive from the beginning
I found that this version found its way into the sexual tension much more gradually, with Thomas coming off as outright physically repulsed by Vanda at first and only admitting to his attraction when he admits to his own hidden masochistic side, as opposed to versions where the idea of the casting couch is hovering over the scenario from the beginning — I especially appreciated the reinterpretation of Vanda’s early line “This is left over from when I was a prostitute” as an obvious crass joke meant to make Thomas uncomfortable rather than a genuinely shocking admission that she then walks back
Davis doesn’t really try to pull off the same gimmick that Arianda did with sudden rapid fire total transformation in voice and body when she goes “in and out of character”, and I think there’s an argument less is more here, that the story gets a different dimension when we can more clearly see Vanda as a single person gradually revealing her competence and confidence as an actor rather than having Thomas literally wonder if he’s talking to someone with multiple personality disorder — in fact I think this actually makes the final reveal in the play feel more organic than it did to me in the original, the weariness and bitterness of this version of Vanda-the-actress is a a throughline that carries through to the rage of Aphrodite
What I didn't like
I have no real complaints other than the obvious limitations of space and budget for a Fringe show, like not being able to do a literal transition from office fluorescent lights to a stage lighting system
Obviously a Fringe show is different from a Broadway show, but I’m impressed by the degree to which this staging is very much its own animal rather than just showing that it’s possible to do a Broadway show on a Fringe budget
My overall impression
One of my favorite plays, and this Fringe staging manages to hold its own against the production I saw in DC with a much higher budget and larger space
