Isolde

Isolde

Theatre for a New Audience

Polonsky Shakespeare Center

September 23, 2015

Photo courtesy of
Theatre for a New Audience

NewYork City Players' Isolde, a new play written and directed by Richard Maxwell, is playing at Theatre for a NewAudience’s Polonsky Shakespeare Center in downtown Brooklyn until September 27.  It received a lot of attention on social media, so I was excited to get a ticket on TDF.  I found the production disengaging, the style cold, and the ending confusing and unsatisfying.  

Isolde, a famous actress (played by Tory Vazquez), is having trouble with her memory, and decides to take on a new project.  She hires Massimo, an award-winning artist/architect (played by Gary Wilmes) to design her dream house.  Her successful contactor husband, Patrick (played by Jim Fletcher), gives her unquestioned support on her new project, which includes looking the other way when she and Massimo begin an affair.  Patrick eventually takes over completing the dream house when Massimo is unable to follow through on his creative vision, leaving Isolde at a loss.

Jim Fletcher, Gary Wilmes, and Tory Vazquez in Isolde
Photo courtesy of Theatre for a New audience

You would think the triangle love story who lend to a passionate and fiery story, but the actors were all stylistically monotone and robotic.  The way they crossed the stage with their hands at their sides, deliberately lifted and moved chairs from one setting to the other, stood facing front while talking and “relating” to each other, and even the way they held the stems of their wine glasses was all unnatural and irksome.  The plot was relatively simple, yet I was unable to identify what motivated the characters to take action.  This left me feeling ambivalent to the action of the play and unable to empathize or relate to the characters.

Photo courtesy of Theatre for a New Audience

While researching Richard Maxwell, I discovered he is known for his minimalistic roots.  Reviewer David Cote wrote “to any Maxwell newbie, the non sequiturs, cryptic pauses and jarring shifts in tone will seem utterly absurd and weird.”  Reviewer Helen Shaw haled him “the bard of downtown deadpan,” and said that Isolde “is more Chekhovian than operatic.”  I have to agree with those statements.  Chekhov, however, can be engaging, and “absurd and weird” can be interesting.  Due to my first experience, I will probably remain a “Maxwell newbie” for a while longer.

Domenick Danza