Review: 'The Revisionist' at Playhouse on Park

Pictured above: Cecelia Riddett as Maria and Carl Howell as David Photo credit: Curt Henderson.

West Hartford, CT - Playhouse on Park presents the New England premiere of Jesse Eisenberg’s ‘The Revisionist’ through April 29. The director is Sasha Bratt, the instructor of theatre at Naugatuck Valley Community College; most recently he has directed ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and ‘Next to Normal’ at NVCC. Mr. Bratt marks his fourth main stage production at Playhouse on Park, where he is the Literary Manager and coordinator of the Playwrights on Park Play Reading Series.

This implausable and only sometimes funny comedic drama begins with an American writer traveling all the way to Poland to stay with a second cousin he barely remembers. David has a severe case of writer’s block and simply wants to be left alone so that (at the behest of his publisher) he can revise his latest book. His previous work, a self-proclaimed allegorical science fiction novel for young adults, was panned by the New York Times.

His widowed seventy-five-year old cousin Maria has read this novel twice and essentially agrees with the Times review that she proudly displays on the wall of her flat, along with numerous framed photos of David and many other family members sent by David’s grandfather. Nevertheless, the lonely woman welcomes him to her cramped home because of her fervent need to connect with her distant American family, but David has little desire to make any connection with her and admits to his cousin that he is using this visit as a last resort to revise his work. He rebukes her offer to show of her homeland, her home cooked meals and the notebook she purchased for his revisions.

The relationship of the distant cousins never really develops enough to support this, but as I expected, the holocaust survivor eventually reveals some details about her complicated post-war past to David. In theory, these eleventh hour revelations “test their ideas of what it means to be a family” but I found the ending to be somewhat unsatisfying. Despite the title of the play, the character of David does little (besides autograph the NY Times review as Maria requested) to revise either his immature behavior or the draft of his latest work on his laptop.

I was most impressed with the performance of Cecilia Riddett, a 46 year member of Actors Equity Association, in her Playhouse on Park debut. The veteran actress was completely believable and did not waste a single move or line delivered in a good Polish accent. Being onstage for the entire hour and forty minutes, even between the acts, required lots of theatrical stamina.

Carl Howell also marked his Playhouse on Park debut as the American writer who is hard to like. Mr. Howell earned his BFA in drama from NYU; this probably helped him to enhance the character of this blocked writer who lives somewhere in New York. The actor was part of the first national tour of ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’ and has done an impressive amount of Shakespeare with various companies. I wished that the role of David had been a better written one, but I can’t fault the actor for making the most of the self-absorbed character.

The only other cast member was NYC-based actor Sebastian Buczyk in the role of Zenon. He did a great job with this small role of a burly, hard drinking taxi driver. An inserted note in the program credited Mr. Buczyk as the dialect and language coach for this production. It was unfortunate that his name was accidentily omitted from the thick program because his fine work was palpable throughout the performances of Ms. Riddett and himself and I am glad to be able to properly credit this contribution.

Scenic design by Emily Nichols of a small flat in Szczecin, Poland in 2007 evoked for me the cramped set for ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ designed by David Lewis and I found that to be a positive influence. However, in my assigned seat in the center, my view of the window above David’s bed was completely blocked by a thick pillar supporting the lowish ceiling of the playhouse. Leaning into the empty seat next to me did not help at all. Since the manner in which the character of David uses this window supported a rather important plot point, I found this to be annoying. Kudos to Pamela Lang and Eileen O’Connor on the authentic props and set dressing.

Nancy Sasso Janis has been writing theatre reviews since 2012 as a way to support local theatre venues and she posts reviews of well over 100 productions each year. In 2016, she became a member of the Connecticut Critics Circle. She continues to contribute theatre news, previews, and audition notices to local Patch sites. Reviews of all levels of theatrical productions are posted on Naugatuck Patch and the Patch sites closest to the venue. Follow the reviewer on her Facebook pages Nancy Sasso Janis: Theatre Reviewer and Connecticut Theater Previews and on Twitter @nancysjanis417