| PATRIOTS - tonight | |
| Last Edit: singleticket 11:36 pm EDT 06/13/24 | |
| Posted by: singleticket 11:34 pm EDT 06/13/24 | |
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| A big vulgar unconvincing but theatrically enjoyable keyhole drama about Putin and the oligarch that may or may not have created him. The basic story is a Jewish magician (Boris Berezovsky) creating a golem or Frankenstein's monster (Putin) that turns on its creator. It's not so far from that other tale of Jewish magicians who create a financial golem in the "Lehman Trilogy". But where the "Lehman Trilogy" had a poetic reach that often succeeded, Peter Morgan's play is so shallow that its reach towards, in fits and starts, philosophical questions of patriotism or human nature and Jewish identity falls flat. What saves the evening and makes it undeniably entertaining is Rupert Goold's direction and two enjoyably physical performances by Michael Stuhlberg and Will Keen. The two performances are so full of detailed vocal and physical turns that it almost feels like a musical. But that is Goold's technique. It is dizzyingly detailed and basically a spoken mime show. It might be just as legible without the dialogue. I have never really liked Goold's direction, it never feels surprising to me. It never uncovers things in the story or the character that I didn't see from the beginning. It is as shallow as Morgan's play here. But it is seamless in its panoramic quality, it covers the play from beginning to end. And in its own relentless way it is breathtaking. Stuhlbarg performs Berezovsky as a sinister Rumplestiltskin, half-squatting throughout, nearly ready at all times to break into a Russian jig. At times he seems like one of those old Victorian jumping jack pull toys. It is a grotesque characterization that eventually moves towards the tragic. Does it really get to the tragic? Not in my opinion. But I found the performance tremendously fun to watch. Yet I never stopped thinking I would have loved to have seen Stuhlbarg doing Richard III rather than the character I was seeing. Will Keen's Putin is similarly grotesque yet more reined in. He is depicted as a Hitler in embryo and we get to watch him being transformed into the Putin we know and fear. It's a bit like watching Louise transform into Gypsy Rose Lee. And Keen's final apotheosis is deliciously sinister. |
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| Previous: | It'll be in the Featured section. - TimDunleavy 08:15 am EDT 06/14/24 |
| Next: | I only saw a few of the plays this season. - dramedy 11:59 pm EDT 06/13/24 |
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