Marc Miller takes a look at Vladimir at Manhattan Theatre Club:
One of the pleasures of Vladimir, Erika Sheffer's sturdy new play at Manhattan Theatre Club, is how it allows us Americans to listen in on ordinary Russians' conversations. We've had plenty of plays about Russia these past few years, including Peter Morgan's Patriots last season, which covered some of the same ground. But they tend to dwell on the oligarchs and commissariats. President Putin is surely the engine of Vladimir, which covers his 1999 election up to a 2004 scandal that quickly got swept under the rug, and its immediate aftermath. But he never shows up. The dramatis personae are journalists, financial analysts, their relatives–little people. |
