Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Riffing on the classics, for better or worse: Brian Friel’s AFTERPLAY and José Rivera’s adaptation of THE MAIDS

• By drediman
• October 11, 2016
• No Comments

Artists have long been riffing on what’s come before them. I recently wrote a piece about two productions I saw at BAM in which contemporary theater makers have distilled The Mahabharata and Shakespeare’s King Lear. This past weekend, I was exposed to more of the same exploration of the classics.

Dearbhla Molloy and Dermot Crowley in “Afterplay” at the Irish Rep

Anton Chekhov’s plays have had a tremendous impact on the evolution of playwriting as we know it. As an homage to the master, the revered Irish playwright Brian Friel wrote a two hander entitled Afterplay that envisions a chance meeting between two of Chekhov’s characters from Uncle Vanya (Sonya) and Three Sisters (Aundrey) years after those plays have taken place.  Irish Rep’s production of Afterplay (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) is exquisite. Despite its slight stature – the play only runs approximately an hour – Mr. Friel and director Joe Dowling have managed to effectively pair Chekhovian frustrations with their own Irish sensibility. The actors Dermot Crowley and especially Dearbhla Molloy bring great depth, subtlety, and quiet grit to their performance.

The company of “The Maids” at INTAR

INTAR has carved a niche for itself by mounting Latino theater in English. Its latest production, a co-production with One-Eighth Theater, is the world premiere of José Rivera’s adaptation of Jean Genet’s The Maids (SOMEWHAT RECOMMENDED). In actuality, Mr. Rivera’s work is less an adaptation and more of a re-envisioning of Genet’s classic play. In his hands, the play loses its slow-burning pressure cooker quality to be replaced by a manic, schizophrenic (indeed, the two maids are now each played by two actors, one male and the other female – an idea I found to be gimmicky above all else) sensibility. Unfortunately, I found this approach to Genet’s work to dampen the shock value in the later scenes. The cast and production (directed by Daniel Irizarry, artistic director of One-Eighth Theater) must be commended for their unflagging intensity, but not everyone rose to the level needed to sustain Mr. Rivera’s vision (kudos however to Mr. Irizarry’s sensationally loopy La Doña).

AFTERPLAY
Off-Broadway, Play
Irish Repertory Theatre
1 hour (without an intermission)
Through November 6

THE MAIDS
Off-Broadway, Play
INTAR (a co-production with One-Eigth Theater)
1 hour, 40 minutes (without an intermission)
Through October 23