OFF-BROADWAY REVIEW
Mr. Rosen has a somewhat contrived role as Gabriel — yes, the name’s
a mite symbolic, as it is believed he’s a fallen pilot. Despite the
memory lapse, Gabriel evinces a suspicious eloquence and flair for
abstract thought. When he and Von Pfunz come face to face, they square
off in a debate over the definition of truth and its relation to
poetry. But Mr. Rosen brings an anguished, dark sincerity to this
tricky role, making the ambiguities believable, at least in the moment.
The most engrossing
relationship in the play is the deeply layered mixture of attraction
and repulsion between Jeanne and the German officer. Ms. Emery and Mr.
Grenier) enact their continuously evolving
interaction with captivating rapport. With each encounter the tension
between them grows, as Von Pfunz quietly asserts his power, without
quite resorting to sexual blackmail, and Jeanne accommodates and
pretends to welcome his attentions — as on some level she does — while
rebelling at the humiliating position she is put in. Mr.
Grenier imbues Von Pfunz with a jolly charm and touches of authentic
humility, and yet neither he nor Ms. Buffini allows the major to become
that dubious cliché, the good German who obeys orders but somehow
remains a pure soul. Von Pfunz may write poetry and act the courtly
gentleman, but he also believes wholeheartedly in the racist tenets of
the Nazi Party, and the facade of urbanity often slips to reveal a
calculating tactician. Ms. Emery similarly illuminates all the
facets of her complex character in deft, subtle strokes. Jeanne is an
impatient mother, slightly resentful of the daughter-in-law who has
usurped her prime place in her beloved son’s heart. She’s selfish and
heedless but fundamentally honorable, and as danger closes in, Ms.
Emery shows us the increasing anguish eating away at Jeanne from the
inside, the guilt and shame she feels for having become involved with a
protector who she now realizes is a destroyer. As befits the
genre “Gabriel” concludes with a rip-snorter of a scene that springs
several surprises, and is staged with impressive vitality by Mr.
Esbjornson. The climax of the theater season can leave a critic — and
dedicated theatergoers — feeling a little bit dazed and sluggish.
Although it’s by no means a ground-breaking work, the sheer polish,
narrative dash and dramatic brio of “Gabriel” got my theater-loving
juices flowing again pretty quickly.
AN ASSAULT ON HEARTS AND MINDS
Reviewed by Charles Isherwood
Published 2010-05-14
Just about the last thing you would expect to see on a New York stage today — or maybe want to see on a New York stage today — is a juicy romantic melodrama set during World War II. The musty attractions of the genre are best savored in the wee hours of the night, surely, when sleeplessness torments and Turner Classic Movies beckons. Or maybe in a downtown drag bar, where the plucky heroine is portrayed by a biological male outfitted with Joan Crawford shoulder pads.
And yet, improbable as it may seem, a tense tale of wartime intrigue and romance makes for riveting watching at the Atlantic Theater Company, where Moira Buffini’s “Gabriel” opened Thursday night in a taut, superlatively acted production directed by David Esbjornson. The ever-wonderful Lisa Emery, a New York theater treasure whose work is always worth seeking out, gives a performance of moving nuance and emotional truth as a British woman trying to protect her family from the manipulations of a German officer whose attentions she cannot afford to ignore.
Ms. Buffini’s deftly woven plot begins generating suspense early on, shortly after Jeanne Becquet (Ms. Emery) stumbles back to the small house on the island of Guernsey to which her family has been relegated. She’s elegantly dressed, and accompanied by Major Von Pfunz (Zach Grenier), one of the Nazi officers who have installed themselves at the larger house on the estate, Jeanne’s ancestral home. (Although it doesn’t figure significantly in big-picture histories of the war, the Germans occupied the Channel Islands in 1943, when the play is set.)
And yet, improbable as it may seem, a tense tale of wartime intrigue and romance makes for riveting watching at the Atlantic Theater Company, where Moira Buffini’s “Gabriel” opened Thursday night in a taut, superlatively acted production directed by David Esbjornson. The ever-wonderful Lisa Emery, a New York theater treasure whose work is always worth seeking out, gives a performance of moving nuance and emotional truth as a British woman trying to protect her family from the manipulations of a German officer whose attentions she cannot afford to ignore.
Ms. Buffini’s deftly woven plot begins generating suspense early on, shortly after Jeanne Becquet (Ms. Emery) stumbles back to the small house on the island of Guernsey to which her family has been relegated. She’s elegantly dressed, and accompanied by Major Von Pfunz (Zach Grenier), one of the Nazi officers who have installed themselves at the larger house on the estate, Jeanne’s ancestral home. (Although it doesn’t figure significantly in big-picture histories of the war, the Germans occupied the Channel Islands in 1943, when the play is set.)
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