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A CurtainUp Connecticut Review
Seder
Based on a true story, the play doesn't get much beyond “you did / I didn't." Hinting at using the eponymous Passover meal to probe into a people's rebelliousness and determination to overturn oppressors and escape from captivity, the work devolves into a repetitious domestic imbroglio. The setting is Budapest, the time is 2002, thirteen years after the destruction of the Berlin Wall," according to the program. Erzsike, having worked for the Soviets when they occupied Hungary, finds her picture on the Wall of Murderers in the newly created House of Terror. The latter is an actual Budapest museum on the former site of AVO, the Gestapo-like secret police. Describing itself as "a monument to the memory of those held captive, tortured and killed in this building," the museum recreates those terrifying years. Protesting that she was a lowly secretary who actually tried to help innocent prisoners by altering records, Erzsike recounts her battles for food and protection. As the mistress of Attila, a handsome, ruthless Russian official, she entered into a sham marriage with sad-sack Tamas, again to protect herself and family. Of her three children (two girls, one boy), it's the older daughter who feels betrayed by a mother who worked for the hated secret police. The evening becomes a back-and-forth between horrified Judit and self—justifying Erzsike. Son, other daughter and an American visitor attempt to follow the Haggadah, imbibe wine and munch matzohs. Men from Erzsike's past emerge, like the prophet Elijah, mid-celebration. "I did the best I could, I just did as I was told," says the self-exculpatory Erzsike. In answer, Judit's platitudinous, "A good person stands up for humanity," is equally familiar. (She does get off the best line, though, when she announces she'll run for Parliament to make Hungary great again.") Besides the warmed-over justifications, the evening is neither frightening nor incisive. Once the initial argument is made, there's no place to go and we get little sense of what really went on during the occupation. Fortunately, there's David, the language-mangling American, to leaven things. As played by the pleasing, Woody Allen-ish Steven Rattazzi, his good nature, along with his desire to get through the ceremony without bloodshed, do more to keep the play on track than the supposed deep revelations. Mia Dillon's Erzsike dominates the play as she does the family: fiercely maternal yet self-protective, her rationalizations tinged with guilt and insecurity, Dillon expertly creates a character that embodies ambiguities. Julia Sirna-Frest starts indistinctly as Margit, the other daughter, before finding her groove. Jeremy Webb is a sly Attila, with Liam Craig a sympathetic Tamas. As son Laci, Dustin Ingram grows from a caustic nonentity into a man of conviction. As rebellious daughter Judit, Brigit Huppuch is properly pompous but doesn't go much beyond screaming at everyone. Director Elizabeth Williamson paces and blocks the action as best she can. There's not much variety in the groupings but, then, there's not much variety in the material she's been given, either. |
Search CurtainUp in the box below PRODUCTION NOTES Seder by Sarah Gancher Directed by Elizabeth Williamson CAST: Mia Dillon (Erzsike), Steven Rattazzi (David), Julia Sirna-Frest (Margit), Dustin Ingram (Laci), Jeremy Webb (Attila), Birgit Huppuch (Judit), Liam Craig (Tamás) Scenic Design: Nick Vaughan Costume Design: Ilona Somogyi Lighting Design: Marcus Dilliard Sound Design: Jane Shaw Wig Design: Jodi Stone Fight Choreographer: Greg Webster Script Consultant: Jocelyn Clarke Casting: Laura Stanczyk Production Stage Manager: Lori Ann Zepp Assistant Stage Manager: Merrick A.B. Williams Production Manager: Bryan T. Holcombe General Manager: Emily Van Scoy Associate Artistic Director: Elizabeth Williamson Running Time: 95 minutes (no intermission) Hartford Stage, Hartford, Conn., Oct. 19-Nov. 12, 2017 Reviewed: Oct. 28, 2017 REVIEW FEEDBACK Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
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