THE FRUSTRATED AND THE BORED
Watching The Cake Shop Theater Company perform Martin Crimp’s brisk new translation of Ferdinand Bruckner’s sharp 1926 play Pains of Youth, about a group of medical students residing in a boarding house in 1923 Vienna, a thought occurred to me: If the same amount of effort as director Katie Lupica and her actors invest in this classic staging were mustered by a wholly Viennese production of the play, the result, while perhaps not great, would likely have been significantly better. The hypothetical Viennese team, I fancied, would bring to the table a bouquet of culture-specific understandings, facial expressions, body language, etc., necessary for the success of this type of literal realization, a bouquet that Americans would have to spend a great deal of time cultivating and even then probably wouldn’t get right. (This isn’t an American shortcoming; Vanuatu natives would likely encounter similar problems if they tried to theatricalize an episode of Sex in the City.) One sees this issue again and again in productions trying to recreate a playwright’s foreign world. In America the victim is most often Chekhov. Likewise, I’ve seen Tennessee Williams butchered in Russia. Directors need to stop trying to imitate and start reimagining, otherwise their projects are doomed from the start.
And so it is with Ms. Lupica’s effort. On Ryan Howell’s charming set, which, with its old lamps, phonograph, and silver coffee set has the feel of a delicate sepia photograph, libidinous seventeen-year-old countess Desiree (Rachel McKeon), for whom medical studies are a breeze, would rather kill herself then live to become just another dull member of the bourgeoisie. In the meantime she wants to be in bed snuggling with Marie (Casey Hayes-Deats), who is on the verge of graduating from med school.
While looking forward to alleviating the pain of thousands, Marie is supporting her wet-noodle wannabe-novelist boyfriend Petrell (Danny Rivera), until he dumps her for the calculating and heartless Irene (Emily Batsford). Their mutual friend Freder (Jacob Trussell), a charismatic and manipulative souse who hasn’t been able to graduate for 12 years, is so bored he seduces the wide-eyed maid Lucy (Lizi Myers), then turns her into a thief and a prostitute to boot. And Alt (Marcus D. Harvey), the wise and kind friend and former MD who’s spent time in prison for the mercy killing of a terminally-ill child, consoles and gives helpful advice to the group.
From the beginning the action proceeds at a frantic pace; it feels like one is watching the play in fast motion. The reasoning behind this choice is a mystery, perhaps Ms. Lupica is concerned about her audience’s attention span failing if the pace were slower. But the result is that there’s little time for anything to really sink in; similar weight is given to each character and nearly every line, which makes for flat dramatics.
Ms. Lupica and her actors appear to have a good intellectual understanding of the characters; beats and motivations seem to be worked out. And yet they never feel quite believable. One gets the sense that there is insufficient characterization and emotional layering to lend the performances authenticity. The only times the players feel in command of their roles are in the few explosive scenes. However, without proper setup these don’t feel satisfying. And the last of these, which happens at the climax, has little impact and is emotionally incoherent.
photos by Bailey Carr
Pains of Youth
The Cake Shop Theater Company
Access Theater, 380 Broadway
scheduled to end on March 2, 2014
for tickets, call 212-868-4444 or visit www.smarttix.com
for more info, visit www.painsofyouthnyc.com
