Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – 59E59 Theaters’ eclectic Brits Off Broadway continues with HANDBAGGED & SQUARE GO

• By drediman
• June 16, 2019
• No Comments

This weekend, I continued my adventures with Brits Off Broadway at 59E59 Theaters with two seemingly divergent plays, Moira Buffini’s Handbagged and Kieran Hurley and Gary McNair’s SQUARE GO.

Anita Carey, Beth Hylton, John Lescault, Susan Lynskey, and Kate Fahy in “Handbagged” by Moira Buffini at 59E59 Theaters. Photo by Carol Rosegg.

Ms. Buffini’s quintessentially British 2010 Handbagged (RECOMMENDED) (the play was expanded in 2013) has finally made it to New York, thanks largely to 59E59 Theater’s Brits Off Broadway festival and Washington, D.C.-area’s Round House Theatre. Thankfully, New York audiences are being treated to Indhu Rubasingham’s elegant original London staging (which played the West End, winning the Olivier Award for Best New Comedy). Handbagged covers much of the same ground as films such as The Queen and The Iron Lady. However, unlike those stately movies, Ms. Buffini and Ms. Rubasingham have infused historic events with theatrical wit and a welcome lightness of touch, even if the play loses some momentum in the second act. The piece also refreshingly acknowledges that history is controlled by the storyteller, in this case the two powerhouse women at the play’s nexus, Queen Elizabeth II and Maggie Thatcher. The acting is top-notch and convincing all-around, particularly tricky given the play’s need for old/young versions of both dueling grand dames.

Daniel Portman and Gavin Jon Wright in “Square Go” by Kieren Hurley and Gary McNair at 59E59 Theaters.
Photo by Carol Rosegg.

Playing in the same theater complex’s most intimate space is Mr. Hurley and Mr. McNair’s SQUARE GO (RECOMMENDED), a fascinating companion piece to Ms. Buffini’s play. Instead of Handbagged‘s pair of powerful women, SQUARE GO is a hyperactive, physically demanding two-hander about two powerless Scottish youths, the fictitious Max and Stevie. The play exuberantly examines masculinity and male aggression, particularly in counterpoint to the vulnerability and pain often underlying such behavior. Finn den Hertog has directed the piece as a sort of belligerent pas de deux for its two actors, which is both thrilling and exhausting to watch. The piece also demands ample audience participation — whether you like it or not — which may not be everyone’s cup of tea. As Max and Stevie, Daniel Portman (of Game of Thrones fame) and Gavin Jon Wright are giving tireless, fearless performances that cover much ground in terms of plot and and character development over the course of its fast and furious hourlong running time.

HANDBAGGED
Off-Broadway, Play
59E59 Theaters / Brits Off Broadway
1 hour, 50 minutes (with one intermission)
Through June 30

SQUARE GO
Off-Broadway, Play
59E59 Theaters / Brits Off Broadway
1 hour, 5 minutes (without an intermission)
Through June 30