[NEohioPAL] Review of "A Walk in the Woods" at Lakeland Civic Theatre

[Bob Abelman]

'A Walk in the Woods' achieves theatrical détente

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review appeared in the News-Herald 4/8/11

 

With the weight of the world on their shoulders, two opposing strategic arms negotiators step away from the bargaining table and take an informal walk in the woods.

 

So begins Lee Blessing's A Walk in the Woods, which was nominated for both the 1987 Pulitzer Award and the 1988 Tony Award for Best Play.  It is currently on the Lakeland Civic Theater stage as a collaborative effort between Lakeland Community College and Rabbit Run Theater.

 

In the play, Andrey Botvinnik is the wise and playful senior Soviet negotiator with the patience that comes from years of experience as a diplomat. He has grown accustomed to a socio-political climate where things move slowly and change is incremental at best.  His American counterpart, John Honeyman, is young, impatient and idealistic.  He takes everything seriously and is incapable of frivolity, while Botvinnik tends to take serious things lightly and light things seriously.

 

Over the course of their profoundly absorbing and revealing conversations in the woods, these two very different men from very different cultures develop a deep understanding of each other, if not a definitive agreement for bilateral disarmament.  "Our meetings have been a great failure," notes Botvinnik at the end of the play, "but a successful one."

 

So too is this play and this production.  

 

A Walk in the Woods is a drama, yet it has little if any dramatic arch.  The play is loaded with dialogue that does not lead to a rise, climax or decay of any real dramatic action.  As with the arms negotiations that serve as the backdrop of this story, the play does not reach dramatic resolution.  In short, it fails as a drama.

 

A Walk in the Woods is also quite humorous, yet there is nothing intrinsically funny about strategic arms, strategic arms negotiations or strategic arms negotiators.  It fails as a comedy.

 

Yet, it succeeds. 

 

The play is not unlike Samuel Beckett's absurdist Waiting for Godot, in which two characters wait endlessly and in vain for someone or something of significance to come.  The drama is generated from the endless waiting for something to happen, while the comedy is generated from the absurdity and tension of the waiting.  

 

Both plays offer commentary on the state of mankind, although they differ in tone and temperament.  Both plays succeed at keeping its audience thoroughly engaged despite the fact that both are uneventful enterprises.  To borrow a term from the world of political diplomacy, both plays achieve a state of theatrical détente, where the strained forces at play seem to relax and coexist.    

 

A Walk in the Woods accomplishes its success on several fronts.  First, Blessing's dialogue is as poetic as it is intelligent, insightful and witty.  It is lovely to listen to and never falters.  A sense of humanity permeates Botvinnik and Honeyman's discussions of world dominance and nuclear holocaust.    

 

Director Robb Gibb finds the rhythms in the playwright's words and brings them to the stage.  Consequently, this production has amazing fluidity despite its relative lack of activity.  These rhythms are facilitated by technical designer Ray Beach, who creates transitions in time through creative lighting effects that give cloth trees texture and color as Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" plays softly in the background.  

 

Of course, most of the success of this production is due to the performances turned in by George Roth as the Russian, Botvinnik, and Brint Learned as the American, Honeyman.

 

They bring life and liveliness to what is essentially two men on a bench. debating diplomacy. from the opening moments of the play to its conclusion.  No small feat.  Roth and Learned work meticulously at the slow maturity of their characters' trust, friendship and eventual affection.  We grow to care about these two as they grow to care about each other.  Again, no small feat.

 

Clearly, A Walk in the Woods is no walk in the woods.  It is, however, a splendid piece of theater done remarkably well. 

 

 A Walk in the Woods runs through April 10 (Fridays and Saturdays, 7:30 p.m., Sunday matinees, 2 p.m.) at Lakeland Civic Theatre, 7700 Clocktower Drive, Kirtland.  For tickets, which are $7 to $15, call 440-428-5913.  

 
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