Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Nassim Soleimanpour’s NASSIM is super-meta theater that puts the playwright front and center

• By drediman
• January 4, 2019
• No Comments

Playwright Nassim Soleimanpour in his “Nassim” at New York City Center Stage II. Photo by Joan Marcus.

Two nights ago, I caught Nassim Soleimanpour’s latest play Nassim at Stage II of New York City Center. To say that the play is unconventional would be a great understatement. Additionally, to reveal anything substantially more about it would be to do it a grave disservice. The only thing I’ll add is that each performance features a different and uninitiated – e.g., no exposure to the script and the show’s underlying premise – actor. As such, every performance is unavoidably a unique experience, and can often times be drastically different from show to show.

At my performance, the formidable actor Thom Sesma, recently featured in CSC’s visceral production of  Brecht’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui and who played the demanding title role in the immersive hit Off-Broadway revival of Sondheim’s masterpiece Sweeney Todd at the Barrow Street Theatre, was that actor. His “on-the-spot” performance was excellent, as he admirably and skillfully adjusted to the sly, shifting demands of Mr. Soleimanpour’s text.

But what to make of the whole thing (stealthily directed by Omar Elerian in essentially a bare stage backed by a projection screen)? Well, similar to Mr. Soleimanpour’s previous work, White Rabbit Red Rabbit, which also featured a different performer at each show, Nassim is as meta-theatrical as you can get for a play. But after the unexpected surprises and delights of his previous play, Nassim may seem a bit derivative of that play’s gimmicks and themes (broadly: language, family, access to the arts, the relationship between playwright and actor). The biggest surprise here is the overwhelming physical and thematic presence of the playwright himself – hence the title of the play – vis-á-vis his guest. If at the end of the day Nassim is much more inconsequential “play” rather than real substance, it’s all nonetheless invariably an amusing exercise.

RECOMMENDED

NASSIM
Off-Broadway, Play
New York City Center Stage II
1 hour, 15 minutes (without an intermission)
Through April 20