Social personas are invented and discarded with
dizzying speed in CoHo Productions’ excellent The Uneasy Chair,
a comedy of manners–slash-existential farce in which questions
of love and loneliness are dressed in high-wire Wildean frippery.
Playwright Evan Smith borrows literary conventions both Victorian and
Shakespearean to disguise this “Cautionary Tale in Three Volumes,” as
it is subtitled; the first two acts careen along in a boisterous blur
of mistaken identity and marital attrition, until the bottom drops
sharply out in act three, reminding the audience that beneath every
kiss, joke, and high-minded gag lies the unfortunate irrevocability of
dying alone.
The courtly Captain Wickett (Dave Bodin) rents a room from Miss
Amelia Pickles (Suzanne Fagan), a starry-eyed old woman who writes
romance novels in her spare time. When the two attempt to orchestrate a
romance between their respective niece and nephew, plans backfire,
stars are crossed, and decisions are made for every reason but the
right one.
Amanda Soden is ridiculously regal as the high-spirited, imperious
Alexandrina Crosbie, niece to Miss Pickles, a society girl on the
“wrong side of 25.” When she takes up with Captain Wickett’s nephew
John Darlington (Josiah Bania), it’s largely to prove to herself that
she’s not so shallow as to refuse to date a poor man (this effort,
unsurprisingly, backfires). Meanwhile, mutual stubbornness ensnares
Captain Wickett and Miss Pickles in an unwelcome relationship that,
like the most depressingly unsexy bondage knot ever, only draws tighter
as they struggle against it. The leitmotif here is the belief that
people can control the way they are perceived by others—we can’t,
Smith tells us, and vainglorious attempts to do so will be our
downfall.
There’s no weak link in this cast, but there is a standout: Ben
Plont single-handedly makes this show hilarious, displaying tremendous
versatility, nuance, and range in a variety of bit parts, from a nosy
lady neighbor to a lawyer representing clients on both sides of a
divorce case. More funny roles for this guy, please.
It’s hard to over-praise this show—director Shelly Lipkin got
everything right, including the best casting I’ve seen all year, with a
result that’s handily one of the finest productions of the 2008/2009
season.