Review - Posterity

Last month, I was very fortunate to get to see the final dress rehearsal of Doug Wright's new play Posterity at the Atlantic Theater Company.  I knew I wanted to go back, both to see the play again but also to see how the play had deepened over the last month.  I'm extremely glad I did.  You all already know I have a predisposition to work about art and artists, but it's always good to throw that up front...

Posterity is a smart, funny, ultimately moving play about how artists see themselves, their work and their legacy.  Do they want to be seen as they are?  Or as the ideal version of themselves?  And one artist will see things differently than another, so where does perception come into play?  All of these ideas are put into motion in a story about playwright Henrik Ibsen and the sculptor Gustav Viegeland.

Vigeland did indeed sculpt a bust of Ibsen very late in the playwright's life, but since little is know of the real-life encounter, Wright has imagined the circumstances around the art.  When the play opens, we see Vigeland in his small studio, sculpting a nude couple - his solicitor barges in and sees that the nude woman model is his maid.  There is squabbling, humor and dignity, all at once.  Quickly, we get a sense of the man as a man and as an artist.  The solicitor brings the news that Vigeland has been commissioned to do a bust of Ibsen, but the sculptor balks.  He wants to be free to work on his new piece, a fountain for the town, but is forced to submit to an interview with Ibsen for the money.  When Ibsen, who doesn't want the sculpture done, arrives, of course sparks fly.

photo credit: Doug Hamilton

The acting, especially Hamish Linklater as Vigeland and John Noble as Ibsen, is spectacular.  Well, there was one performer who wasn't quite up to snuff, in my opinion, but everyone else was very good.  Besides, when the meatiest scenes were between Linklater and Noble, the electricity in the air crackled.  When the two of them stood toe to toe, whether arguing, commiserating, appreciating or condemning each other, they were stellar.  I loved the ebbs and flows of their scenes together, with whip-smart changes of direction that kept setting off light bulbs in my head.  I thought these two were terrific at the final dress rehearsal, but I really relished the way the two performers, as actors and as characters, enjoyed each other and the fight.  It was really something to see.

I loved how Wright took a real-life encounter and made it into something universal - the idea of how you're remembered after you're gone.  You think you know how these famous artists would behave and what they would say, but Wright humanizes them.  We see the ego and the hubris, but also the fear and the longing.  The dialogue was so smart; throughout there were also surprising and touching reveals, especially in that last scene.  I think the last scene is spectacular stuff; I can see it entering actors' scene study classes for years to come.

The physical production was also terrific, with lovely lighting that really sets the time and place beautifully.  The Atlantic isn't a huge space, but it always feels big thanks to great designers.  I'm not quite sure I enjoyed the original music - at one point I honestly didn't know if it was underscoring or someone's cell phone.  On occasion, the music got just a little too 'much' for my tastes, but that's a quibble.  I'm ever so glad TDF made it possible for me to see Posterity again.  You should see it, too.

I'm off on some travels for a bit, so there may not be any blogging coming up.  But there might be, you never know.  I"ll have my tablet and keyboard with me on my travels, so...we'll see!  :)