David (Jesse Eisenburg) and his elderly cousin Maria (Vanessa Redgrave) walked the audience through the relationship building process of a modern family. Young David is a best-selling author with a classic case of writer's block. He is intensely pressured to follow his initial success and produce a second novel of a higher caliber. Maria is the quintessential lonely spinster who feels alive by the smallest gestures towards her. Their two worlds collide when David sequesters himself in Maria's guest bedroom in Poland, miles away from the temptations of his home base; New York City.
Vanessa Redgrave's elegant speech and graceful walk was non-existent as Maria - with heavily accented speech, hunched over and shuffling from one corner of the apartment to another. Maria pretends to not listen or look at David but she is forever following him with her eyes and ears.
Jesse Eisenburg's lithe frame is a perfect foil to the role of intensely self-absorbed David who alternates from rushing around Maria's tiny living room or lounging in her guest bedroom - a shrine of family portraits. There were many moments worth a chuckle or roaring laughter from the audience from his interactions with cousin Maria. However the lighter scenes are interspersed with dark undertones of Maria's suffering and David's desperate need for success. Their rocky relationship overture crescendos in the final moments of the play. There is no tidy revelations or closure but a sense of continuation of the fictional world of David and Maria unfolding somewhere in the real world.
The Revisionist is on stage at the Cherry Lane Theater until Mar. 30. The play runs for 100 minutes without intermission. Tickets are available for purchase online.
Comments