The 32-year-old 13th Street Repertory
Company held a national playwriting contest and picked San Francisco-based
Peter Levy as the winner for his depiction of the last days of Leo Tolstoy: Troika: God, Tolstoy & Sophia.
Unfortunately the winning play lost as both a play and a production.
Levy tells the story of Tolstoy (Mike
Durell) as he struggles with his true religious beliefs, the finalization
of his important relationships with his wife Sophia (Catherine Hennessey)
and daughter Sasha (Kristin Ledingham) and the writing of his will. His
choice, as championed by his publisher (Seth D. Rabinowitz) and doctor (Matt
Hartwick), is to leave all royalties to his wife up through certain
writings, including War and Peace.
Royalties for all other writings will be left in the control of daughter Sasha,
with the understanding that she will oversee the royalty-free publication of
those writings so that they will be affordable for the people of Russia. The
wife is not happy with this arrangement and feels that she is being cheated out
of her inheritance. To exasperate matters, Sophia reads in Tolstoy’s diary that
he is homosexual. Her life is falling apart around her, and she attempts
suicide. Meanwhile, Tolstoy’s new personal secretary, Valentin Bulgakov (Mark
Comer) is falling in love with the daughter. In a secondary plot line,
Sasha’s reluctance to get married based on the observation of her parents’
turbulent marriage perplexes the traditionally minded Valentin, who would
prefer marriage to their commitment-free affair.
The story is told in numerous short
scenes that end suddenly with blackouts and never feel complete. Characters
come and go in scenes haphazardly with little motivation, constantly overhearing
news that causes confrontations. The love affair between Sasha and Valentin is
utterly unbelievable, and there is nothing in the writing of Sasha that leads
one to believe it was possible for Valentin to fall in love with her. Director
Karen Raphaeli didn’t help the play by guiding her cast toward a level of
sincerity that would make the impossible relationships believable, nor did she
work for smooth transitions between scenes or the building of the natural tug
of war between the characters.
The costumes, by Tom Harlan,
attempted to evoke the 1910 period, but only made it halfway with incongruous
clothing items mixed together for a shabby overall design. A cheap novelty
store beard made Tolstoy himself look ridiculous -- an unfortunate attribute
for a protagonist. The set, by Casey McLain, served the play on basic
terms, but in keeping with the other production elements it too lacked
unification with the overall production. Lighting, also by McLain, was basic,
based on the limitations of the facility, but was evenly executed.
Save for a very sensitive performance
by Matt Hartwick and the sincere and likable performance of Mark Comer, the
acting of the ensemble was lackluster. Durell was a curmudgeon cartoon cousin
of Mr. Magoo, Hennessey was overwrought, and the two robbed the central
relationship of the electric chemistry that had to be necessary to make the
entire enterprise fly. Levy had a good idea for a play, but a fuzzy focus and
poor character development in combination with a careless production made this
drama a historical disappointment.
Writing: 1
Directing: 0
Acting: 0
Set: 0
Costumes: 0
Lighting/Sound: 1
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Copyright 2006 Michael D. Jackson