By Ron Fassler . . .
In Christina Masciotti’s new play, No Good Things Dwell in the Flesh, two women work together in a tailor shop in the Astoria section of Queens. Agata, the owner, is an aging Russian of fierce independence, while her protégé, Janice, is a flighty and insecure thirty-year-old Queens native. Their interactions over the course of 95 minutes consist of a series of scenes that repeatedly highlight and magnify their differences. Besides one character being twice as old as the other, a significant culture clash is at play, as well as one being a realist and the other a dreamer. The author is most interested in exploring the themes of pragmatism vs. fantasy, practicality vs. impracticality, idealism vs. skepticism and drama vs. realism. Whether all this comes together in the form of a cohesive play is the question.
Based on the playwright’s own interactions with an immigrant tailor she befriended in her neighborhood, the material from which she has drawn her main character of Agata feels stage-worthy as well as pulled from the headlines. Even though it was the collapse of the Soviet Union that sent Agata to America, today’s Russia seems no less an oppressive regime with the war against Ukraine a constant drain on human life and its economic welfare. As for Janice, a younger person riddled with anxiety who honestly doesn’t know the meaning of suffering compared with how someone like Agata has made their way in the world, the contrast couldn’t be clearer. Their connection is at the core of the play and, as performed by two actors of intense concentration and commitment, the drama is elevated in a way that makes for some powerful scenes.
The seasoned stage veteran Kellie Overbey brings maturity and an unsentimental strength to Agata. The Russian accent she deploys, aided by the honesty with which the playwright has written the character, allows Overbey to deliver the goods. Ten years ago, I enjoyed her immensely in Gina Gianfriddo’s Rapture, Blister, Burn at the Geffen Playhouse, where she gave a performance of great variety and nuance. Carmen Zilles, excellent in the recent Epiphany, a lovely play by Brian Watkins done at Lincoln Center Theatre last season, plays a very different woman here. Mature and assured in that one, Zilles’s portrayal of Janice is the polar opposite. And though she could easily be portrayed as flighty, Zilles finds dimensions of depth and color to Janice that permeate the work. She brings an emotional complexity as well as an outstanding ability to stay present and in the moment. Rarely on stage without the other, Overbey and Zilles share a palpable bond that at some points transcends Masciotti’s play.
In the course of the action, Agata tries to convince herself that her time at the shop is over and that Janice could conceivably take over the business, but that’s wishful thinking. It’s never going to happen and the series of events that take us to the inevitable conclusion presents problems that should be addressed in future productions. The inclusion of a former boyfriend of Agata’s, now a disturbed and unstable stalker, feels shoehorned in to create some drama outside the women’s relationship. It doesn’t come off as organic in spite of a noble effort on the part of T. Ryder Strong who plays him.
As directed by Rory McGregor on a very believable set by Brendan Gonzales Boston, the balance of the production feels right. McGregor certainly gets fine performances from all involved, including Jeffrey Braband and Megan Lomax in minor roles. The costumes by Johanna Pan lend authenticity and color and Stacey Derosier’s lighting is evocative. Credit goes to Charmian Hoare’s dialect coaching of Overbey’s authentic Russian accent (at least to this critic’s ear).
No Good Things Dwell in the Flesh is a quote from the Bible. It’s not included in the program, but for those curious, a Google search brings it up in a nano-second: “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.”
No Good Things Dwell in the Flesh. Through September 23 at the Jeffrey and Paula Gural Theatre at A.R.T/New York Theatre (502 West 53rd Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues). www.art-newyork.org
Photos: Maria Baranova
