VanLoan

vanloan@nyconstage.org

The dictionary defines the word pseudo as: (from the Greek pseudes) false: spurious; being apparently rather than actually as stated; a sham. Everything about Yasmina Reza's new play A Spanish Play is pseudo (in capital letters). It is pseudo-intellectual; pseudo-existential; pseudo-tragic and in perhaps in its gravest sin pseudo-Luigi Pirandello. The only thing that is not pseudo about it is that it is a colossal 90 minute bore (patrons should be forewarned that there is no intermission).

Ostensibly, it is about a group of French actors rehearsing a play in Spain. They are interrelated: a mother (Zoe Caldwell), her two daughters (Linda Emond and Katherine Borowitz), the mother's fiancé (Larry Pine) and one daughter's husband (Dennis O'Hare). All the women are actresses although Nuria (Ms. Borowitz) is a successful movie star while Aurelia (Ms. Emond) is a struggling theater actress. Due to their profession, the women are always "dramatically on"; it is Ms. Raza's conceit to never let the audience know exactly when we watching a rehearsal of the play or a real life conflict (the play being rehearsed is also hazily sketched). Fernan (Mr. Pine) a building manager/developer serves as a pseudo-narrator yet provides little in the way of insights as to the relationships involved (although we do learn a lot about how difficult it is to deal with apartment tenants). Mariano (Mr. O'Hare), Aurelia's husband, spends most of the evening drinking which seems an excellent response to the pseudo-metaphysical chatter around him. The grand-dame of the family Pilar (Zoe Caldwell) does her best in dealing with her bickering daughters but one gets the impression she would like to be anywhere else. Other than the facts just related, what A Spanish Play is trying to say is anyone's guess (and of course the pseudo-question of the hour is: Does Ms. Raza know??). Noted playwright David Ives (All in the Timing) has translated from the French and should not be held responsible for our general feeling of being clueless. All the actors have done better work elsewhere (with needless to say better material) but it is up to the great Zoe Caldwell is give an acting lesson in a play about acting. After a ten year absence from the stage, she is triumphant in riveting our attentions and for a few brief, fleeting moments makes us interested in this pseudo-bullshit.

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