BWW Reviews: True to Form Taper's VIGIL Makes Us Wait and Wait for the Payoff

Vigil
written & directed by Morris Panych
Mark Taper Forum
through December 18

With the title Vigil what should one expect? And its graphic with Olympia Dukakis framed by the parameters of a coffin? Death, most assuredly. But will it be funny? Vigil... Waiting For Godot comes to mind. Well, if it weren't for its two actors cavorting and acting silly, that play's tediousness might turn its audience to stone. As it turns out, Vigil's first act goes on and on as well... with Grace (Olympia Dukakis) saying nothing and Kemp (Marco Barricelli) waiting super impatiently for her to die. He's her nephew and hasn't seen her for thirty years. He's come back to care for her unwillingly at her request, and he's left his job with no money and is very unhappy. Once he starts talking about himself, we learn that he has always been unhappy... since childhood. He considers life stupid and pointless. What doesn't appear negative to him? As he looks from Grace's loft apartment window, he sees a crippled man with a wooden leg and makes fun of his zest for living, as he hops along. Sad fellow, this Kemp. As in most black comedies, there's a normal situation which somehow turns abnormal and very, very sour. If it's already sour, than more so. Events, usually queer, occur, as if out of the blue, that provoke tremendous over-the-top laughs. Being a black comedy, Vigil is no exception. It's dark humor is infectious, but as playwright Panych questions how long Kemp will last, he puts his audience at the mercy of this whole scenario as well, and that does create some painstaking anxiety. Will she die? When will she say something? It becomes agonizing and Vigil is not an easy pill to digest.

One of the best parts of Vigil I cannot tell you. If I give away the plot twist in Act II, which receives the longest and biggest laugh, I will ruin the enjoyment of the play for those who have not yet seen it. So, all I care to say is that it is terribly funny and quite touching. It's about someone who has never been really loved and who desperately needs to be cared for...and that is not the old lady. Yes, it's Kemp, whose miraculous transition during the course of the play comes from his bizarre, unexpected contact with this woman. Barricelli is delightful as he frenetically moves about, not knowing what to try next and then coming up with the most ingeniously ludicrous, or in fact, ludicrously ingenious ways to make Grace's demise happen faster. Oh, did I mention he likes to dress in women's clothes? Dukakis, consummate actress that she is, is a fabulous reactor with a mere seven or eight lines to utter. What she is called upon to do she does very well. But somehow, I would prefer to see her do something a tad more challenging, perhaps a classic... Mother Courage or another vehicle more befitting her tremendous talent. Ken MacDonald is responsible for the set design of a singularly imposing and tilted loft apartment right out of a nightmarish fairy tale.

Despite its flaws, Vigil does have its moments and if you stick it through, you may learn just how importantly a relationship, even one that seems pointless, may turn your life upside down...and that means for the better.

 

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