Friday, January 14, 2011

Theater Review: A Small Fire

A Small Fire Rages with Emotions
By Lauren Yarger
Just how hard would you fight to stay in a world you no longer could smell, taste, see or hear? And how far would you go to reach out to your wife, mother or friend if she were the one losing her senses?

These questions are the kindling for Adam Bock’s A Small Fire, an inferno of emotions and a blaze of great play writing stoked by riveting performances as directed by Trip Cullman Off Broadway at Playwrights Horizons.

Tony Award winner Michelle Pawk is Emily Bridges, a woman who, in between living a settled-for life with husband, John (an excellent Reed Birney), running her construction contracting business with friend and colleague Billy Fontaine (Victor Williams) and planning a wedding she’s less than enthusiastic about for her estranged daughter, Jenny (Celia Keenan-Bolger), suddenly finds she’s losing her senses. Literally.

First she loses her sense of smell, then taste (a sample of the wedding cake tastes like chalk). She tries to hide the problems from her family and Billy, but as sight and hearing soon fail her as well, she reluctantly becomes dependant on them for every need. The play’s one weakness is that no explanation for the phenomenon is given. We’re left to wonder whether it’s a medical condition or a psycho-somatic withdrawal from her world. In any case, it doesn’t really matter, because the core of the fire comes from the characters’ interaction with each other.

As Emily’s senses fail, John’s become more acute and he assumes the roles of his wife’s eyes and ears as well as her caretaker. Birney is an explosion of talent. In a scene where he’s describing to Emily what’s happening at the wedding, he portrays every kind of emotion. A simple smile he gives his wife early in the play conveys love and devotion – and later – serves as an anchor of truth when he defends his decision not to abandon his marriage to his daughter, who increasingly finds it difficult to be around her mother and wants her father to be released from his existence.

Pawk is riveting as the woman slowly finding herself in a nightmare from which she can’t awake. Williams is excellent as Emily’s one true friend – and also lends some needed comic relief with his enthusiasm for racing “athlete” pigeons. The roles are demanding and require the actors to take the characters further than the mere words that are being said. Here Keenan-Bolger’s Jenny falls a bit short of the others, as we never fully understand why she’s so hostile toward her mother.

The creative team adds snap and crackle to the production as well. Loy Arcenas designs a set that easily changes from construction site to living room (helped by sound and music effects designed by Robert Kaptowitz and lighting design by David Weiner); Ilona Somogyi designs the costumes.

Bock stacks an amazing amount of wood to build a roaring fire in this play – incredible character development and swift movement of story build to a raging conclusion– all in just 80 minutes. It’s one of most engrossed times I’ve spent watching a play in a long time.

A Small Fire has been extended through Jan. 30 at Playwrights Horizons, 416 West 42nd St. For tickets, call (212) 279-4200.

Christians might also like to know:
• Language
• Lord’s name taken in vain
• Homosexuality (mentioned, but not central to the themes)
• Sexual Activity
• Nudity

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Our reviews are professional reviews written without a religious bias. At the end of them, you can find a listing of language, content or theological issues that Christians might want to know about when deciding which shows to see.

** Mature indicates that the show has posted an advisory because of content. Usually this means I would recommend no one under the age of 16 attend.

Theater Critic Lauren Yarger

Theater Critic Lauren Yarger

My Bio

Lauren Yarger has written, directed and produced numerous shows and special events for both secular and Christian audiences. She co-wrote a Christian musical version of “A Christmas Carol” which played to sold-out audiences of over 3,000 in Vermont and was awarded the Vermont Bessie (theater and film awards) for “People’s Choice for Theatre.” She also has written two other dinner theaters, sketches for church services and devotions for Christian artists. Her play concept, "From Reel to Real: The Jennifer O'Neill Story" was presented as part of the League of professional Theatre Women's Julia's reading Room Series in New York. Shifting from reviewing to producing, Yarger owns Gracewell Productions, which produced the Table Reading Series at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, CT. She trained for three years in the Broadway League’s Producer Development Program, completed the Commercial Theater Institute's Producing Intensive and other training and produced a one-woman musical about Mary Magdalene that toured nationally and closed with an off-Broadway run. She was a Fellow at the National Critics Institute at the O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. She wrote reviews of Broadway and Off-Broadway theater (the only ones you can find in the US with an added Christian perspective) at http://reflectionsinthelight.blogspot.com/.

She is editor of The Connecticut Arts Connection (http://ctarts.blogspot.com), an award-winning website featuring theater and arts news for the state. She was a contributing editor for BroadwayWorld.com. She previously served as theater reviewer for the Manchester Journal-Inquirer, Connecticut theater editor for CurtainUp.com and as Connecticut and New York reviewer for American Theater Web.

She is a Co-Founder of the Connecticut Chapter of the League of Professional Theatre Women. She is a former vice president and voting member of The Drama Desk.

She is a freelance writer and playwright (member Dramatists Guild of America). She is a member if the The Outer Critics Circle (producer of the annual awards ceremony) and a member of The League of Professional Theatre Women, serving as Co-Founder of the Connecticut Chapter. Yarger was a book reviewer for Publishers Weekly A former newspaper editor and graduate of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, Yarger also worked in arts management for the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and served for nine years as the Executive Director of Masterwork Productions, Inc. She lives with her husband in West Granby, CT. They have two adult children.

Copyright

All material is copyright 2008- 2024 by Lauren Yarger. Reviews and articles may not be reprinted without permission. Contact reflectionsinthelight@gmail.com

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Key to Content Notes:

God's name taken in vain -- means God or Jesus is used in dialogue without speaking directly to or about them.

Language -- means some curse words are used. "Minor" usually means the words are not too strong or that it only occurs once or twice throughout the show.

Strong Language -- means some of the more heavy duty curse words are used.

Nudity -- means a man or woman's backside, a man's lower front or a woman's front are revealed.

Scantily clad -- means actors' private areas are technically covered, but I can see a lot of them.

Sexual Language -- means the dialogue contains sexually explicit language but there's no action.

Sexual Activity -- means a man and woman are performing sexual acts.

Adultery -- Means a married man or woman is involved sexually with someone besides their spouse. If this is depicted with sexual acts on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Sex Outside of Marriage -- means a man and woman are involved sexually without being married. If this is depicted sexually on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Homosexuality -- means this is in the show, but not physically depicted.

Homosexual activity -- means two persons of the same sex are embracing/kissing. If they do more than that, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Cross Dresser -- Means someone is dressing as the opposite sex. If they do more than that on stage the listing would include the corresponding "sexual activity" and/or "homosexual activity" as well.

Cross Gender -- A man is playing a female part or a woman is playing a man's part.

Suggestive Dancing -- means dancing contains sexually suggestive moves.

Derogatory (category added Fall 2012) Language or circumstances where women or people of a certain race are referred to or treated in a negative and demeaning manner.

Other content matters such as torture, suicide, or rape will be noted, with details revealed only as necessary in the review itself.

The term "throughout" added to any of the above means it happens many times throughout the show.

Reviewing Policy

I receive free seats to Broadway and Off-Broadway shows made available to all voting members of the Outer Critics Circle. Journalistically, I provide an unbiased review and am under no obligation to make positive statements. Sometimes shows do not make tickets available to reviewers. If these are shows my readers want to know about I will purchase a ticket. If a personal friend is involved in a production, I'll let you know, but it won't influence a review. If I feel there is a conflict, I won't review their portion of the production.

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