Jonah is good, awkward, inquisitive, respectful and clearly smitten – the kind of boy you may want for a primary love when you had been Ana, a scholarship scholar at a boarding faculty. After he walks her to her dorm, she lifts her shirt over her head, flashing him.
The subsequent time they meet, he asks her why she did that.
“Did you will have an issue with it?” she replies.
“I—. No. Sure? I don’t know!—I’m simply attempting to determine it out.”
A couple of quarter of the best way by Rachel Bonds’ play “Jonah,” there’s a unusual blitz of sunshine, Jonah disappears, and what appeared such a charming coming-of-age comedy turns right into a drama that’s darkish and sophisticated — one which I spent the remainder of its 100-minute operating time simply attempting to determine.
Regardless of the title, “Jonah” actually revolves round Ana, portrayed by Gabby Beans. Ana by no means leaves the stage, however after every blitz of sunshine one in all three male characters seems on stage together with her, then abruptly disappears, and reappears later.
In her scenes with Jonah (Hagan Oliveras) Beans captures the capriciousness and excessive spirits of adolescence.
However when she is with Danny (Samuel Henry Levine), she is affected person, comfy, defensive, whereas Danny is unstable, distrustful, needy.
In her later scenes with Steven (John Zdrojeski), Ana is guarded and reflective whereas Steven is attentive, respectful, in his personal manner clearly smitten.
Ultimately we piece collectively the essential story. Danny’s father married Ana’s mom when Ana was 11; Ana’s mom died three years later. Her stepfather was horribly abusive, extra to Danny than to Ana, however Danny was protecting of his stepsister, and helped each of them escape. Neither escaped unhurt.
I hesitate to elaborate additional, since a lot of the power that the playwright places into the play is on the gradual unfolding of the story, advised theatrically. She and director Danya Taymor appear wedded to the play’s ambiguity.
A part of the anomaly is the timeline. It appears largely in chronological order, traversing at the very least 20 years, however there’s at the very least one scene that appears to be a flashback. There aren’t any exterior cues that orient us to time and place – a change within the set; costume or make-up adjustments; a title card.
“Jonah” appears the sort of manufacturing wherein the inventive staff doesn’t wish to sacrifice an intriguing aura for the sake of readability. Fortunately, its forged goes a great distance towards maintaining the play grounded. Beans, who was nominated for a Tony in her Broadway debut efficiency because the cheeky maid Sabina in “Pores and skin of Our Tooth,” is simply as successful as Ana,however extra psychologically complicated. Samuel Henry. Levine, who made his personal auspicious Broadway debut within the twin roles of Adam and Leo, offers a full-charged credible efficiency. John Zdrojeski, who additionally just lately made his Broadway debut, as George Gershwin in “Good Evening, Oscar,” and is scheduled to co-star as Tom Buchanan in “The Nice Gatsby,” is efficient (and the alternative of the depth of these different roles) as a extra mature model of the boy Ana fell in love with.
Which brings us to Hagan Oliveras, the relative newcomer within the quartet of tremendous actors. If the character may appear a tad too naïve for a 17-year-old these days, it’s potential that that is meant as a reminiscence play from a earlier period (it’s not clear); in any case, Oliveras’ efficiency is simply too lovable to seek out any fault.
When late within the play, Steven meets Ana at a writers’ retreat, we work out she is now an grownup. Steven is drawn to Ana, he says, due to how moved he was by her guide. Will we be taught what the guide is about? No. However we work out the guide should not be about her childhood, as a result of Ana ultimately explains to Steven – and to us— a lot of the backstory that we saved guessing all through “Jonah.”
A lot, however not all. That the play is given the title of Jonah is a clue to the significance of Jonah, or at the very least to the importance of the harmless, ideally suited love that Jonah represents. At one level, Ana and Jonah trade sexual fantasies. Ana’s are intensive – a person goes to her door within the pouring rain telling her he missed his flight as a result of he’s liked her since they had been youngsters – however, as she admits, her fantasies “are not a lot about all of the physique elements however in regards to the feeling,” not intercourse however love.
“Yours are so significantly better than mine,” Jonah reacts. “Mine’s similar to, ‘Oh man, I’m touching a butt.’”
It was at comedian moments like these that I felt sorry that “Jonah” wasn’t the sunshine romantic comedy that it initially promised to be – adopted by guilt that I didn’t extra absolutely admire the extra refined, if tougher, drama it turned out to be.
Afterward, serious about all of the fantasies that Ana had spun for Jonah, I puzzled: Would possibly the Jonah in “Jonah” not simply be the boy of Ana’s adolescent goals, however completely her fantasy, her escape from a life that has little love in it? Is that what the playwright intends? I’m nonetheless figuring it out.
Jonah
Laura Pels by March 10
Operating time: 100 minutes, no intermission.
Tickets: $82-$138
Written by Rachel Bonds
Directed by Danya Taymor
Wilson Chin (Units), Kaye Voyce (Costumes), Amith Chandrashaker
(Lighting), Kate Marvin (Sound), Tommy Kurzman (Hair and Wig), Gigi Buffington (Voice and Textual content Coach),Morgan Auld (Illusions), Tilly Evans-Krueger (Motion), and Ann James (Intimacy).
Forged: Gabby Beans as Ana, Samuel Henry Levine as Danny, Hagan Oliveras as Jonah, John Zdrojeski as Steven.
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