My overall impression
If you have the chance, you must catch this show! I’m still spinning from last night’s incendiary performance.
It’s not a show for everyone and it also should include a TRIGGER WARNING for graphic violence/sexual violence.
The Vagrancy once again delivers raw, abrasive, relevant theatre, this time with a terrifying, beautiful production of a rarely done, and very important play, ‘The Conduct of Life’ by Maria Irene Fornes.
Sabina Ptasznik’s bold choice of material and right-on direction make for an unforgettable night of theatre.
Ptasznik obviously understands this play on a very deep, visceral level, as well as on an intellectual level, and I felt that this production assaults the audience on both levels – which seems like the only way to truly communicate this story. Ptasznik’s staging is utterly fantastic, always serving the story and it’s themes, lifting the text off the page and to terrifying, three-dimensional life. It is so fulfilling to me (as a theatre artist, an audience member, and a woman) to see intelligent female directors putting on the work of subversive female playwrights! I think Fornes would probably kiss Ptasznik for this production.
The simple set was effective in staging everything that needed to happen in this play. Lighting Designer Ric Zimmerman knows how to creatively work around the limitations of this space during the Fringe, and creates beautiful pictures and mood with a few simple work-lights hooked up to some technical magic that allows them pulse on and almost off. Nick Santiago’s sound blends beautifully into the story, quickly forwarding the scenes as they change. John Houston’s simple costumes and limited, sparse palette served Ptasznik’s production perfectly. Particularly effective was the echoing between characters, like how when Nena gets a real dress, it is very similar to Leticia’s dress.
The cast brought to life a fantastic portrayal of five slices of human life in Fornes’ world.
Robert Homer Mollohan’s Orlando instilled visceral teror. He had an attractive electricity to him that became more and more disconcerting as his character revealed himself throughout the play. Orlando is obviously despicable but Mollohan was able to make him a real person by sincerely bringing to life this man’s tormented heart. From the moment I sat down in the theatre he was already on the stage doing an aggressive work out, his animalistic energy over-filling the small space of the intimate theatre, making me feel uncomfortable and engaged before the play even started – brilliant direction from Ptasznik and commitment from Mollohan!
Karin Wolfe’s Leticia was equally as disturbing. Under Ptasznik’s direction, Wolfe gracefully brings to life a character who could easily slip into hysterical female caricature. Wolfe’s Leticia, a woman who remains blind because she is terrified of the pain of seeing reality, is just as much a part of Fornes’ commentary on what is wrong with out world as Orlando is: Leticia is a woman who talks “lofty” ideas but who shirks action for the protection offered in cowardice. We don’t hate Wolfe’s Leticia either; rather, we feel for her, and at the same time want to shake her until she wakes the hell up! Far from black and white, I’m still churning over her performance.
Belinda Gosbee’s Olimpia was beautiful in her simplicity, her realness, and honest bluntness. Olimpia is a much needed spark of humor and light and a kind of maternal love in this bleak, bleak household. Gosbee made this character extremely endearing, and I was rooting for her to take action, since she was the first and only one to really speak up against Orlando on behalf of Nena. And yet, Fornes messes with my head again – even bold-mouthed Olimpia doesn’t dare take action against Orlando. She heals and mother Nena, but doesn’t even tell Leticia, which is frustrating to watch – and yet understandable, given Olimpia’s status and lack of agency as a servant in the household. I’m torn. And I believe that’s the point.
Jeremey Mascia’s Alejo was an gorgeous foil to Orlando. Alejo is, as he himself describes, impotent – not just sexually, but impotent in relation to any sensual enjoyment, to any hope, to life and being alive. He’s already shut down. The tall, jovial Mascia transformed his physical and energetic self, shrinking into a sad husk of a man, in some ways preferable to Orlando’s unconstrained lusts, and in some ways more disgusting.
Emily Yetter’s Nena absolutely destroyed me, every single time she was on stage. Nena doesn’t speak for the first two thirds of the play, and yet, Yetter’s sounds, eyes, energy and physicality make her perhaps the most expressive character in the play. I was blown away by her commitment to “go there” with Nena, being 100% present through horrifying abuse scenes, and yet keeping a sincere spark of light and hope in the heart of this girl. Yetter’s performance was filled with obvious love for Nena and her story.
Ptasznik’s production beautifully brings out Fornes’ themes of oppression of women and oppression of the lower class, without being too on the nose either — the kind of theatre the makes you feel AND makes you think. Thank you to The Vagrancy and everyone involved for a beautiful production.
