[NEohioPAL] Review of "Venus in Fur" at Cleveland Play House

Bob Abelman r.abelman at adelphia.net
Thu Nov 14 08:08:20 PST 2013


Cleveland Play House's 'Venus in Fur' is all about the foreplay

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Morning Journal, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times,

Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review will appear in the News-Herald on 11/15/13

 

 

"Don't we go to plays for passions we don't get in life?" 

 

This question is asked and answered by young playwright-directorThomas Novachek, a character in David Ives' "Venus in Fur."  Thomas has adapted for the stage an 1870 erotic novel by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, the Austrian writer whose sexual proclivities inspired the term "sadomasochism." 

 

His play is intended to attract those with a private penchant for degradation and pain, but Ives' "Venus in Fur" is clearly targeted at intelligent theater goers who are passionate about plays that are witty, employ language as if it was sacrosanct, and unfold in one jam-packed act.  

 

Those with a passion for brilliant acting and directing will find it as well in this enthralling Cleveland Play House production.

 

"Venus in Fur" opens with a thunderclap, as a young, hyperactive and deliciously flighty actress named Vanda storms into her audition hours late, soaking wet from the rain, and cursing the gods for her misfortune.  Thomas is exhausted and short-tempered after spending the day auditioning women woefully ill-equipped to play his "sexy-slash-articulate" 19th-century European leading lady.  

 

Flustered, fuming but undaunted in her revealing black lingerie audition outfit, Vanda talks her way into reading the script - which she has somehow acquired, researched and memorized - with Thomas reluctantly playing the role of subservient lover to her dominatrix.  

 

What happens next is mesmerizing.

 

Over the course of 90 minutes, Thomas and Vanda become the characters they are playing.  At first they fade in and out of character as they go from reading the play to evaluating its reflections on libido and literature, but they progressively lose themselves in the sexually ignited personas from von Sacher-Masoch's novel.  

 

This requires the actors playing them to jump from contemporary to classical and back again in a heartbeat, and to immediately shift from being dominant to submissive.  

 

Vanessa Wasche, as Vanda, does so brilliantly. She seamlessly transitions from a Zooey Deschanel new-girl - all flailing limbs, random thinking, and unfiltered speech -- to a perfectly controlled, privileged 19th century vamp.  Her vocal and physical conversions - in fact, all her acting choices - are perfectly conceived and executed with remarkable virtuosity.   

 

The same can be said for Michael Brusasco as Thomas.  His desperate efforts to keep his bearings as the lines blur between fantasy and reality are electrifying.  Most astounding of all is that both he and Wasche are able to find and mine all the humor that resides in this script and generate a chemistry that milks the sensuality out of all this talk about sexuality. 

 

Sensuality is, in fact, the hallmark of this play.  Despite Vanda's sexy wardrobe, despite a casting couch prominently placed center stage and strategically employed throughout the reading of the script, and despite all the references to S&M, there is no sex or nudity in "Venus in Fur."   It is all about the foreplay.  The players tease the audience into submission and we find ourselves thanking them for it.  

 

Cameron Caley Michaelak's scenic design affords the audience a voyeur's vantage point by positioning patrons on opposite sides of a runway stage in the intimate Second Stage theater space.  Those in the first few rows are so close they are warmed by the sexual tension on stage.  

 

Director Laura Kepley has a wonderful feel for the psycho-sexual drama that unfolds in this play and keeps it energized and always interesting to watch.  She effectively steers the actors in the right direction as the play's power struggle shifts from one gear to another.  And she finds the proper course when, at the end of the play, Vanda's motives and true identity are revealed in what has come across as convoluted in other productions of this play.  

 

"Venus in Fur" leaves its audience well entertained and emotionally spent, without the tell-tale signs of rope burns or lash marks.  Isn't that why we go to plays?

 

 "Venus in Fur" continues through November 30 in Cleveland Play House's Second StageTheatre at PlayhouseSquare.  For tickets, which range from $15 to $72, call 216-241-6000 or visit www.clevelandplayhouse.com.   

 
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