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A CurtainUp Review
Asuncion
By Elyse Sommer
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"I wrote Asuncion partly about myself, to explore myself. I know a lot of things, but I haven't had a lot of experiences. There's a great disconnection. I'm not fully formed yet"— Jesse Eisenberg in an interview with Robert Feldenberg in the New Jersey paper The Record
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Jesse Eisenberg and Camille Mana
(Photo credit: Sandra Coudert) |
Fully or not so fully formed, there are signs of talent on display in the play produced under the auspices of the always adventurous Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. Too bad then that it's based on a plot device that strains credulity and that the main characters' relationship lacks clarity.
Eisenberg wrote the leading role of Edgar for himself and he is indeed terrific as the liberal, anti-imperialism blogger who's as yet found no takers for his pieces in the traditional publishing world. However, since his richly nuanced portrayal of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg that won him a Best Actor Oscar proved that he can transcend the Woody Allen-like, smart but insecure, nervous nebbish, it's disappointing that he hasn't used his writing to stretch his range as an actor. For the most Part, Edgar is mostly another tried and tested role.
The good news is that, in addition to Eisenberg's spot-on portrayal of the nerdy and basically clueless, go-nowhere wannabe sensitive journalist, the play's other three characters also benefit from outstanding performances. To add to Ascension's assets, it's crisply directed by Kip Fagan and staged with excellent production values.
To get back to the problematic plot. The action revolves around Edgar and Vinny (Justin Bartha) who was Edgar's teaching assistant for a while during his undergraduate days. Somehow, the two men have become roommates in an off-campus apartment in Binghamton (home of the state system's Harper College) even though only Vinny, who's doing some teaching while working on a PhD in Black Studies, is paying the rent.
John McDermott's cluttered apartment where the story unfolds couldn't be more perfect. The problem is that there's little to clue us in on Vinny's reliance on getting high. The fact that both Edgar and Vinny are obviously lonely just isn't enough to make us understand their relationship. Though it's not unheard of for white scholars to take up and teach Black Studies, it's hardly a common or easy career path, and in this case it seems mostly a device to establish Vinny as well as Edgar as an obvious liberal without prejudice against people of color.
Speaking of devices, here's where we come to the play's biggest structural problem. To give the stoner and slacker duo setup a dramatic twist, the playwright has moved a temporary third occupant in with them. This new roommate is Asuncion (Camille Mana), the sexy Filipina bride of Edgar's older brother Stuart (Remy Auberjonos) met and fell in love with via an internet website.
Since Stuart is a prosperous Wall Street trader who disdains his kid brother's life style, why in the world would he want or need to have Asuncion hole up in Binghampton while he sees to some never explained business in New York? Asuncion doesn't clarify the reason she agreed to stay with her new brother-in-law either. To be fair, her presence does make life in the grungy apartment more interesting, Yet, when Stuart finally does explain why he was more or less hiding Asuncion in Binghampton, that explanation doesn't make it any less incredible and contrived.
Despite the credibility stretches, which include a particularly under-motivated acid trip interlude, there are some amusing scenes once the peppy Ms. Mana enters the picture — and the Woody Allenish Edgar's assumptions about his sister-in-law interestingly escalate to the point of turning the farcical situation into something quite a bit darker (and better). That's when Edgar is somewhat more Zuckerberg than Woody Allen. (As Stuart inelegantly but pointedly describes the effect of his wrong-headed assumptions on Asuncion's emotions "whatever you did to her this week, however, you made her feel, makes you the worst kind of white prick there is. Because you call yourself a pussy, when you're actually a prick.")
The way the apartment becomes neater as the characters interactions become messier, nicely underscores the play's more meaningful possibilities. So does the ambiguous, quiet ending.
Asuncion rounds out a month that has brought us a trio of new plays with authors in their late '20s or just passing their 30th birthdays (We Live Here by actor-playwright Zoe Kazan and Sons of the Prophet by Stephen Karam). Karam's Sons of the Prophet is undoubtedly the most compelling and mature of the three. But Asuncion is the only one by and with a genuine movie star. As such it's bound delight Eisenberg's 2900-plus Twitter followers as well as the groupies keeping up-to-date on all things Jesse at a fan web site. The chance to see JE up close and personal is likely to flll every seat of the attractively renovated but still intimate West Village theater throughout its limited run.
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Asuncion by Jesse Eisenberg Directed by Kip Fagan Cast: Jesse Eisenberg (Edgar), Remy Auberjonois (Stuart), Justin Bartha (Vinny) and Camille Mana (Assuncion) Sets: John McDermott Costumes: Jessica Pabst Lighting: Ben Stanton Sound: Bart Fassbender Stage Manager: Melissa Mae Gregus Running Time: 1 hour and 45 minutes with one intermission Rattlestick theater at the Cherry Lane Theatre 38 Commerce Street 212- 279-6200 From 10/12/11; opening 10/27/11; closing 12/18/11 . Tuesday through Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 2pm & 8pm, Sunday at 3pm. Reviewed by Elyse Sommer at October 22nd press preview |
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