FPCT's 'Sight' to Be Seen

            The second of FPCT's anniversary season offerings, Donald Margulies' Sight Unseen offers an interesting take on the art world and the people who inhabit it.  This 4-hander covers a lot of territory, not the least of which is defining the value of art, the price one pays to create art and even anti-Semitism.  For the most part, the play handles these issues well and creatively.  Using the device of time-shifting scenes, Margulies reveals the details of the plot much like the peeling of an onion, lots of thin layers which eventually add up to an interesting beginning, which is where the play ends.  It isn't nearly as confusing as this probably reads, and works like an interesting cross between Art, Sunday in the Park with George and Merrily We Roll Along.  Admittedly the first few minutes are relatively dull – not much happens and one spends much time wondering when things will get moving, and the anti-Semitic scenes, separated from the rest of the action, seem a bit heavy-handed and have the feel of "haven't we seen this all before".  The scenes concern an interview between a German and a Jewish artist, and the argument is blatantly forced.  Aside from these quibbles with the script, the rest of the evening is high quality entertainment, and FPCT continues a thoroughly winning season.

            Director Barry Feinstein has crafted a deftly paced, highly theatrical staging of the piece, including the confusing, somewhat dull opening scene, clearly a fault of the material not the direction.  He sets the pace and defines the theatrical conventions with this early scene, which ultimately pays off as things get moving.  Having the actors wander the set during scene changes, and sit off to the side in chairs while fully maintaining character gives an artistic, inventive edge to a play that by its very structure and content beg for just such a staging.  Sparingly designed and equally theatrical in presentation, set designer Mary O'Connor and lighting designer Ben MacKrell fit their work seamlessly into the overall concept of the evening.  Music and sound designer Herman Meyer also adds much with his evocative music throughout the evening.

            All four members of the cast are particularly well suited to their roles, almost to the extent that one might believe the parts were written expressly for them.  In the smallest and least effectively written role of Grete, the German art interviewer, Jane Steffen proves once again that she is a versatile local actress.  She attacks each scene with intensity and believability.  Her accent is superb and never falters, and even though she has many minutes between scenes, she never forgets character as she sits on the sidelines.  As Nick, the British husband, who loves his American wife but lives under the weight of her past relationship with an artist, Mark Steckbeck brings a full range of emotion to the role.  His performance also features an excellent, convincing accent, and requires him to at turns be the sympathetic husband, the grateful, needy lover, the angry head of the household and the fiercely jealous suitor.  He does each well, imbuing the role with strength and just enough pathos to generate sympathy from the audience.

 

            In the main roles of Patricia and Jonathan, Claire Bowerman and Mark Poremba provide much welcomed electricity, even in the quietest moments of the play.  Mr. Poremba has the difficult task of being a protagonist that we must alternate hating and loving.  Ultimately, his character is hard to take, but because of the intensity and humanity he applies to his reading, one comes away from things at least understanding the man.  That is no small feat.  Ms. Bowerman, though, is the real star here.  Her performance is riveting.  She is another of that increasingly rare breed of actress – she acts with her entire body, especially her eyes, which provide the truth behind every word and action her character says and does.  Recognizing that the play is structured to reveal things piecemeal, Bowerman's Patricia is similarly layered and revealed.  She never gives away more than necessary, allowing the audience the full sensation of understanding.  The ache of conflict she feels between her husband and her former lover is palpable, and the harsh realization that she has used her marriage to hide from her past is an exciting and heartbreaking turn of events for all concerned.  The last scene, where we finally see where it all began is all the more interesting and engrossing because Bowerman has doled out the details of Patricia's past so beguilingly.

            This production is an entertaining, stimulating evening of theatre in Fells Point.  Sight Unseen needs to be seen.  Don't miss it.

 

PHOTO: Mark Poremba and Claire Bowerman in Sight Unseen.  Photo by Amy Jones.

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