Smudge

GRADE: B-


Photo by Carol Rosegg
By Rachel Axler. Directed by Pam MacKinnon. The Women's Project at the Julia Miles Theatre. Through Feb. 7.

Critics seem engaged by Rachel Axler's dark comedy about childbirth, in which a couple gives birth to an indescribable deformity; the word "interesting" comes up in even a few of the less admiring reviews. But while a number of critics find no fault with the play's sharp, unpredictable humor, with Pam MacKinnon's brisk direction, or with the performances, particularly Cassie Beck as the horrified new mom, many find fault with the play's craft and execution, with responses ranging from admiring but puzzled to intrigued but dismissive. Axler's background as a writer for the TV shows The Daily Show and Parks and Recreation gets mentioned as either an asset or a liability, depending on the critic.

Time Out NY A
(Adam Feldman) The mysterious newborn in Rachel Axler’s smart, piquant Smudge is not lovable-looking...The remarkable Beck, who has quickly become one of the city’s essential actors, gives Colby an original comic edge and a sympathetic stubbornness, with strong support from Greg Keller as Colby’s earnest, philosophically adrift husband and Brian Sgambati as his frat-boyish older brother. In some sense, Axler’s dark comedy—alertly directed by Pam MacKinnon for the momentum building Women’s Project—is a horror story: a parent’s nightmare rendered with sometimes lyrical surrealism...A meditation on ambiguity and ambivalence, Smudge also illustrates ambition: a parent’s, thwarted, and a playwright’s, achieved.

Variety A
(Marilyn Stasio) For signs of intelligent life in the theatrical universe, I hereby refer you to "Smudge," Rachel Axler's pitch-black comedy about a young couple reacting to the birth of a severely deformed child. In the horridly funny tradition of "A Day in the Death of Joe Egg," the traumatized mother discovers that a dark, despairing sense of humor proves a more effective way of coping with the tragedy than rage, denial or hubby's self-delusional acceptance of the unacceptable...For all the improbability of the play's macabre premise (reflected in the visual severity of Narelle Sissons' stark set), the overall style of Pam MacKinnon's stringently focused production is grounded in realism.

The New York Times B+
(Rachel Saltz) Parenthood never looked weirder or more terrifying than it does in “Smudge”...Ms. Beck plays the freaked-out Colby just right. She is smart, reasonable and wry, and confronted with a nightmare for which she is responsible. Mr. Keller is good too, even if Nick seems more contrived, as does his job...“Smudge,” stylishly directed by Pam MacKinnon and given a spare, almost clinical look by Ms. Sissons, can feel dramatically underpowered at times. Still, it’s nearly always interesting. Ms. Axler has a comic’s gift for language that is precise and imaginative, but never showy. What gives the play its charge is how Ms. Axler taps into a primal fear — giving birth to a monster — and then calmly considers it from all angles. She has a lightness of touch, especially in the scenes with Colby, that makes the dark undertow all the more affecting.

Theatermania B
(Andy Buck) What better way is there to mark the age of Jon, Kate, and Octomom than with a play that explores the creepy secrets of childrearing? Look no further than Emmy Award-winner Rachel Axler's dark, serious, and very intelligent comedy...The problem, however, with writing a play that centers around a smudge (even one with the elaborate name of Cassandra) is to engage not only the minds of the viewers but their hearts as well, as the couple's marriage begins to crumble under the weight of this tragedy...Director Pam MacKinnon's frequent use of distancing effects, such as when Beck marks the end of Colby's pregnancy by yanking the padding out of her shirt and handing it abruptly to her fellow actor, adds to the problem. Given Axler's already outrageous premise, occasional monologues, and snappy one-liners, such Brechtian moments seem unnecessary.

New York Post B
(Elisabeth Vincentelli) In an era of supermoms, it's rather refreshing to see that lack of motherly instinct, and the show never turns into an against-all-odds love story. Instead, Axler quickly and successfully sets up an ominous mood: Cassandra's big, clunky pram recalls the one from "Rosemary's Baby," and the unseen baby seems able to telepathically control her feeding tubes...Directed with brisk matter-of-factness by Pam MacKinnon, "Smudge" at its best recalls the work of author Judy Budnitz, who brilliantly describes surreal domestic nightmares with a logic all their own. But Axler doesn't go far enough...Mental illness, the expectations placed on mothers, the very issue of what makes someone human are no small topics, but here they're brushed off almost as soon as they're raised.

Village Voice B-
(Alexis Soloski) Though it flirts with satire and absurdism, it ultimately settles for a disappointingly conservative resolution...The play is at its best when Axler uses lively language to detail Colby's ambivalence, as when she torments the baby with a stuffed animal made entirely of arms and legs. "I call him Mister Limbs," says Colby. "He has everything you don't. Plus? Water-absorbent." Alas, the play's arc is rather soppy, and Axler's barbs give way to a sentimental conclusion—trading unsettling dissonance for a stale lullaby.

Backstage C
(Karl Levett) There is a distinctly ambitious imagination at work here, and the effort is certainly brave, if, unhappily, not very successful...Axler is unable to find a cohesive style to express this tricky material. In reaching for a kind of comic edginess, the play walks a rocky path between naturalism and absurdity in its attempt to convey a situation that is unspeakably sad. These two aspects, unfortunately, have a way of neutralizing each other, often resulting in an exercise in uneasiness. Just as the playwright is brave, so are the performers, under the sure direction of Pam MacKinnon.

Nytheatre.com C-
(Martin Denton) I kept wondering: is Cassandra a human baby? Has she a heart, kidneys, liver, pancreas, skin, and so on? Is she not as malformed as Colby believes? Is she a thing of science fiction (though the naturalistic trappings of the play constantly argue against that thesis)? Is Smudge some kind of allegory? In the end, I have to say that I gave up trying to figure out what a smudge/baby might be. Axler's primary theme seems to be that people need to listen to each other—to really hear each other—and the play's arc tracks Colby and Nick's movement toward appreciating that idea and the power of their coupling. But Axler and, especially, MacKinnon put a lot of stuff in the way of that simple story of love and discovery, stuff that seems to be important but that I couldn't make much sense of...Axler's ideas here are intriguing and the play has an interesting haunting quality that lingers. But her craftsmanship feels inconsistent.

That Sounds Cool D+
(Aaron Riccio) The cute charms of this awkwardly dark comedy fail to develop--the downside of a background in sitcoms. Nick attempts to parent his intubated, limbless, and non-responsive baby with a stuffed and smiling carrot; Colby tells her child how much she doesn't love it, chopping sleeves off of onesies and downing cheesecakes; and the nerdish Nick's outsized brother--and boss--Pete (Brian Sgambati), shows up in order to verify that the baby is not some Albee-ish metaphor for a failing marriage...It's not that Smudge isn't interesting--it's that it's written sloppily and executed poorly, almost as if Axler were trying to give birth to a good play, only to somehow, well... smudge it.

Time Out NY A 13; Variety A 13; The New York Times B+ 11; Theatermania B 10; New York Post B 10; VV B- 9; Backstage C 7; Nytheatre.com C- 6; That Sounds Cool D+ 5; TOTAL: 84/9=9.33 (B-)

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A Lifetime Burning

GRADE: C+

By Cusi Cram. Directed by Pam MacKinnon. At 59E59. (CLOSED)

"Mouth-watering" (New York Times), "Gorgeous" (New York Post), "The last word in designer chic" (Light&Sound) -- these are just a few of the words critics have lavished on Kris Stone's set design for A Lifetime Burning. As the ill-gotten spoils from a fake-memoir book contract, this expensive interior figures prominently in Cusi Cram's play about a pampered, bipolar woman named Emma (Jennifer Westfeldt). Critics are similarly excited by Emma's tipsy tussles with her disapproving sister, Tess (Christina Kirk). Perhaps for this same reason, they also want a more developed familial conflict in place of the meta-meta narrative and what-is-reality-anyway meanderings that Cram has apparently crammed into the story's ninety minutes. Director Pam MacKinnon gets oddly dichotomous reviews for either unifying the above or failing to do so and the acting and design get mostly high marks all around. Some reviewers prefer Westfeldt's Emma to Kirk's Tess but just as many side the other way, which makes for an interesting spread of critical response below. At the end of the day, it's Emma's play and the final test for recommendation seems to come down to whether you experience her as something more than a cipher. But then, speaking as a critic of critics reviewing a play inspired by a real-life fraud fiction-memoir ... maybe Emma should be a cipher?

Backstage A
(David Sheward) The slippery nature of truth is examined with wit and insight in Cusi Cram's play "A Lifetime Burning," ... Family history and social commentary are seamlessly interwoven in the sharp dialogue as the two sarcastically joust ... Emma could easily have come across as a spoiled brat, but Jennifer Westfeldt pulls off an admirable feat of acting legerdemain by making us care for this hot box of crazy ... Christina Kirk is equally skillful in adding dimension to a potentially narrow character ... Isabel Keating nearly steals the show as Lydia, the sharklike publisher ... Raúl Castillo makes Alejandro, the hunky Latino lover, more than just a hot guy, painfully exposing the character's disappointment when he discovers Emma has been using him. Pam MacKinnon's fluid staging handles the transitions between the present, the past, and Emma's imagination with nary a bump, aided by David Weiner's subtle lighting and the set by Kris Stone, which is as chic and stylish as Cram's elegant script.

CurtainUp A-
(Simon Saltzman) Under Pam MacKinnon’s excellent direction the 90 minute play crackles with wittily edged vitriol ... Westfeldt may be giving one of the most brilliantly bi-polar-propelled performances ever seen on a stage. She also invests in Emma a poignant transparency that ultimately succeeds in making us care for her well-being and a future that may include even more uncertainty ... Nervous and unnerving tension as well as a discernable speech impediment is at the core of Kirk’s fine performance as the ever admonishing Tess. It is a bit exhausting however to listen to her endlessly berate her sister even as she continues to obsess about her twin children who hate her and the family dog that has just died from eating grapes ... This play is certain to create a buzz, if not in publishing circles, then in this new theater season.

Associated Press B
(Peter Santilli) Cram appears to distance herself from any clear-cut stance in this ethical debate that serves, at times tiresomely, as the core of her play. But in pitting her characters in shouting matches against one another, she methodically weaves a family drama with gratifying depth and truth ... In the early scenes, the bickering floats between humorous and wearisome, but later gains poignancy as we discover more about Emma and what caused her to write the fake memoir ... This richly textured portrait of two sisters' relationship makes this play compelling, despite the gloom of their predicament. Isabel Keating provides lighthearted relief in the role of Lydia, the sweetly jaded publishing magnate who signed Emma. Her ridiculously highfalutin' rants are the funniest thing about this somewhat glum comedy, which is directed by Pam MacKinnon.

Lighting & Sound America B
(David Barbour) As long as the author, Cusi Cram, is aiming poison darts at her self-obsessed characters, A Lifetime Burning is gleeful, malicious fun ... Overall, Pam McKinnon's staging works reasonably within the play's limits. Jennifer Westfeldt's charm and solid comic timing help to fend off our nagging questions about Emma until relatively late. As Tess, Christina Kirk gets her laughs, although I wish her line readings were a little less emphatic. Raul Castillo's likeability goes a long way toward making Alejandro a credible character. As Lydia, Isabel Keating pockets every scene she's in ... [E]ven if A Lifetime Burning goes awry, it's the work of a real talent, and Primary Stages is doing us all a favor by giving Cram a New York showcase.

Variety B
(Sam Thielman) Must we feel sorry for the wealthy and bored? Cusi Cram says yes with "A Lifetime Burning," a play redeemed in execution from its unpromising premise. That premise may simply be the writer's challenge to herself: Cram takes the unenviable job of humanizing a wealthy memoirist, who writes movingly about her nonexistent minority ancestry, and said memoirist's shrill, judgmental sister. Depending on how anxious you are to pity the fortunate, the play is either an instant winner or a slow burn, but all are likely to dig fabulous perfs from leads Christina Kirk and Jennifer Westfeldt under Pam MacKinnon's nimble direction.

The Village Voice B-
(Michael Feingold) Juggling acts can be fun, and Cram's snark-tongued dialogue intermittently makes this one delightfully pointed, but juggling acts rarely feature dramatic developments that justify their lasting 90 minutes, and the same is true here ... Primary Stages (which, in fairness, has often striven to break the mold of the prevailing predictability) has given A Lifetime Burning a smooth, classy production, by Pam MacKinnon, with excellent performances by all four actors, particularly Kirk, whose razor-sharp comic attack couldn't be more perfectly fitted to her role, and Keating, who plays the haughty, high-powered editor exactly as if she knew in her heart of hearts that a remake of The Devil Wears Prada were imminent and she were going to become Meryl Streep by sheer strength of will.

Theatre Mania B-
(Andy Propst) Cram's play is about much more than falsifying one's past in print, but even as the piece engages and amuses, it also strains under the weight of Cram's ambitiousness ... Burning becomes a distaff American riff on Irish plays where alcohol spurs the revelation of secrets and long-simmering resentments. Perhaps best of all, the play is also a terrific indictment of the reality-obsessed culture in which we live ... Unfortunately, Cram stumbles with her rich mixture of themes and stories; the play also tackles Tess' disintegrating marriage, the nature of opposites attracting, and eventually, the reality of the childhood that the sisters shared. While Pam MacKinnon's direction is zestful, it never successfully unifies the sometimes bewildering array of ideas and themes Cram has included in the piece. Still, the cast's grand performances make it almost possible to overlook Cram's excessive writing.

New York Times C
(Charles Isherwood) Ms. Cram’s play, directed by Pam MacKinnon, moves awkwardly from a protracted, boozy set-to between the sisters to scenes in which Emma’s recent history is enacted in flashbacks ... Also lumpy is the characterization of Emma, whose history of mental problems is referred to repeatedly but never cogently dramatized ... Oh well. The barbed animosity between the sisters makes for pleasurable viewing, anyway. Ms. Westfeldt’s Emma retains her purring poise despite a barrage of angry recriminations from her sister, all sputtering confusion and outrage in Ms. Kirk’s funny and frazzled portrayal. The dialogue crackles with snappy sarcasms ... “A Lifetime Burning” tries to blend far too many tones, plotlines and ideas into a brisk 90 minutes of theater, resulting in a play that never delves beneath the surface of its glibly spoken characters and topical story.

Bloomberg C
(John Simon) To make the plot mystify more profusely -- as in the account of Emma’s evolving affair with Alejandro (whose English can be astoundingly expert) -- we are sometimes unsure whether a given scene is actually happening, or related with possible embellishments by Emma, or merely fantasized by Tess. What then, you ask, is positive here? Frequently clever dialogue, savvy direction by Pam MacKinnon, and good acting from Jennifer Westfeldt (Emma), Christina Kirk (Tess), Isabel Keating (Lydia) and Raul Castillo (Alejandro). Kris Stone’s spiffy set, Theresa Squire’s apt costumes and David Weiner’s versatile lighting make substantial contributions.

Time Out New York C-
(Helen Shaw) At its center (and at its best), Cusi Cram’s A Lifetime Burning is a tart martini made of vermouth and vitriol ... Tantalizing hints gleam throughout that perhaps Cram intended something more subversive and metatheatrical—when scenes seemed flat, I wanted it to be evidence of Emma’s weak imagination, not Cram’s. However, aside from one half-hearted attempt to tinker with the world of the play, Cram plays it disappointingly safe. Westfeldt, badly overloaded, gives a repetitive, soggy performance, and Cram’s humor almost doesn’t survive her. But Kirk—bless her bizarre, syncopated delivery—saves the day.

Talkin' Broadway D
(Matthew Murray) Cusi Cram’s new play at Primary Stages may purport to be a searing examination of the fine line between fact and fiction that the written word and the writers thereof constantly blur, but it really exists for just one reason: to demonstrate its playwright’s prolificacy with comic and earnest one- and two-liners ... A rich white woman who’s conceived this as a way to make her “stupid” life more “palatable” after frittering away an enormous inheritance, is not exactly an automatic sympathy generator. Nor, unfortunately, is Emma so developed that you can accept this as part of a larger framework of characterization ... Emma, then, becomes little more than a mouthpiece for a cause that barely exists. What else is there for audiences to do but hunker down and wait for the next lemon-zested zinger? ... Those, by the way, never get tiresome. There are worse things than to spend an evening listening to Keating wrap her lips around rafter-raisers like “I love a good literary read as much as the next head of a publishing house.” But there are better things, too, such as plays that use statements like these to decorate and illuminate character, not substitute for it.

New York Post D
(Frank Scheck) In Cusi Cram's "A Lifetime Burning," it's hard to concentrate on the plot -- about a young writer who writes a sensational but fictitious memoir -- when all you can think about is Kris Stone's gorgeous apartment setting, a homage to Design Within Reach ... Inspired by Margaret Seltzer's discredited "Love and Consequences" (James Frey's the one name-checked), the play focuses less on its juicy premise than on the relationship between Emma and her journalist sister Tess (a terrific Christina Kirk) ... Not helping matters is Westfeldt's unconvincing performance. Even with the dire state of the publishing industry, it's hard to imagine her character could have fooled anyone into thinking she survived anything tougher than a fall off of her trust fund.

Nytheatre.com D-
(Martin Denton) The tone of the play is self-congratulatorily cynical, as if just knowing that most of your choices are misguided and borderline malevolent somehow excuses them. These are not people I enjoyed spending time with. Nor was I much convinced of their plausibility ... Director Pam MacKinnon keeps things moving, but her work has its lapses as well ... I've seen several new plays this summer in which people with means—looks, intelligence, money, education, youth—seem entirely unable to pull themselves out of ruts of their own devising: I know the Recession is hitting everybody hard, but let's face it, there are people a lot worse off than Emma the Lonely Bipolar Wannabe Writer. Frankly, her story didn't interest me very much—and nothing that happened during the 90 minutes of A Lifetime Burning changed my mind.

Backstage A 13; CurtainUp A- 12; AP B 10; Lighting & Sound America B 10; Variety B 9; Village Voice B- 9; TheatreMania B- 9; New York Times C 7; Bloomberg C 7; Time Out New York C- 6; Talkin' Broadway D 4; New York Post D 4; Nytheatre.com D- 3. TOTAL: 103/13 = 7.92 (C+)

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