Review - Incident at Vichy

Considering that at least two of Arthur Miller's plays are on my top ten list of all-time-favorite-plays, I think it was a no-brainer that I would buy a ticket to the revival of his Incident at Vichy, currently in previews at my favorite place in town, Signature Theatre.  Factor in that Richard Thomas, one of my all-time-very-favorite actors, would be starring in it, and again, all signs point to yes (anyone else have a Magic 8 Ball when they were growing up??).  Plus, hello, there's just no resisting the $25 ticket price...

I've never seen a live performance of Incident at Vichy, nor have I read the script, but I have seen a DVD version once or twice.  It starred Richard Jordan and Harris Yulin - again, two of my very favorite actors, so I had a positive image in my mind of the play in performance.  The current production is still in previews, so I imagine they're still working; I'll just offer a few comments.  I guess you could say spoilers will follow.

Nearly any play that deals with the Holocaust in any way breaks my heart.  It just does.  I should just throw that out to start.  Needless to say, regardless of flaws, my heart was broken repeatedly last night.  Incident at Vichy takes place in 1942 in Vichy, France, which is supposed to be a 'free zone,' but to the gentlemen who have been rounded up and placed in a holding room, things do not feel so free.  They start comparing how they were brought into the facility, which isn't exactly a police station, but rather maybe an old warehouse that the Germans have converted into a detention room.  The set is very expertly done, giving a feeling of antiseptic dread.

When the lights come up, we see men just sitting, blankly staring, looking lost, and not saying anything or interacting.  Finally, one of the younger men starts to talk, not only to the other men, but to himself.  He sets up the situation very well, with a little bit of humor and a little bit of foreshadowing, that puts you on the edge of your seat.  Eventually, more men are brought into the holding room.  At first, they think they're there to have their papers checked, but they all know, in the back of their minds, that they're there because they're Jewish.  When German officers come in to start 'interrogations,' the dread escalates.  Each man goes to be interrogated - whether or not they come back out is where the dread and tragedy lies.

In my opinion, the play itself is perhaps a tad flawed, in that some of the dialogue is very pointed and didactic, though there is some of Miller's characteristic bold and blunt truths, plus most of the characters are stereotypes.  But, I guess since this is a 90-minute play, perhaps Miller just wanted to get on with things and not bother with shadings.  Even with those flaws, though, I found the play riveting.  Compelling.  Horrible (in the best theatrical way).  And impossible to look away.  The ideas of guilt, terror, complicity, and the struggle to understand oneself and others, were all compellingly acted.  I frequently held my breath and felt my heart stop when another character went into the interrogation room.

photo credit: Joan Marcus

The actors worked together brilliantly and the give and take between them was well-constructed.  Some of the actors' characterizations worked better for me than others, but that's ok.  Maybe some of them are still finding their way.  But by the second half, when most of the conflict is between two or three characters, the tension has ratcheted up to an almost unbearable degree.  Hearing the actor (playing an actor) give a piece of a certain play's dialogue before he goes into the interrogation room, made me gasp.  And the final confrontation between the psychiatrist and the aristocrat was bold and powerful, and oh so moving.  The fact that the aristocrat was played by Richard Thomas made that scene all the more moving.  He does find so many layers and shadings to his character, which doesn't seem to be written with much shading.  Richard Jordan played this part in the DVD I've watched before and his performance is so different, it's astounding.  Both so real, both so different, and both fantastic.  And the very end of the play?  Stunning.  Oh, and I just have to mention that Jonathan Hadary is incredible and he has no dialogue.  None.  Amazing.

Not much to tell seat neighbor-wise, mainly because no one sat next to me!  On either side!  It was very strange.  Everyone in my section was very well-behaved, thankfully.  Of course, I brought the average age of the audience down to about 89, so there's that.  I was excited to see another Signature playwright in the ladies room (I'll be seeing her play next week), and then spying acting genius Lois Smith in the lobby.  Those were exciting sightings before the show. So I went in with a positive attitude - if occasionally, my mind wandered and I thought, hm, that's a bit awkward, well, ok.  On the whole, I loved seeing Incident at Vichy.  It gave me some wonderful acting to enjoy, especially from longtime favorite Richard Thomas, and some lingering thoughts to deal with.  For example, there's a point where an electrician is arguing with the aristocrat.  The electrician talks about being a working man and how the working man will rise up and end the tragedy of the war.  How the working man will not let the rumored killing of Jews happen.  And the aristocrat says, no, actually, the working man loves Hitler, because they think he's just like them and he'll make their lives better.  And I started to get chills about how politics are playing out around here right now, and how people are circling around xenophobic presidential candidates.  And it terrified me.  Again, Arthur Miller has written a play about its time, but still about all time.  What a genius.  I highly recommend your looking for the DVD of Incident at Vichy, and, as always, I highly recommend you head over to the Signature and check out what they're doing.  It's always so worthwhile.