Reviews NYCOff-Broadway Published 5 March 2023

Review: The Seagull/Woodstock, NY at the Pershing Square Signature Center

Pershing Square Signature Center - Romulus Linney Courtyard Theater ⋄ 14 Feb-4 April

Thomas Bradshaw’s new play leans into its awkwardness and is all the better for it. Lane Williamson reviews.

Lane Williamson

“The Seagull/Woodstock, NY” at the Pershing Square Signature Center (Photo: Monique Carboni)

Parker Posey is giving a fascinating performance in Thomas Bradshaw’s new play, The Seagull/Woodstock, NY. As the actress Irene, adapted from Chekhov’s Irina, Posey is working hard to avoid the clichés of the part. Irene is self-absorbed and clueless, sometimes cruel, but she cares about the people around her. Posey doesn’t slip into the expected chin-high, nose-in-the-air regality you might expect. There’s nothing elegant about her performance. Her Irene is fidgety and ineloquent. You can tell she’s used to speaking someone else’s words and fumbles with her own. She’s as confused by the people around her as she’s confusing to them. Posey’s not taking the easy road and the result is a performance simultaneously mystifying and captivating–exactly the kind of acting I find exciting. 

This dynamic pervades Bradshaw’s play. It exists in an uncomfortable awkwardness that is less confrontational than some of his earlier work, but still as unsettling. It’s the kind of play that needs you to go where it’s taking you. He doesn’t upend Chekhov’s plotting or character relationships that much, but the weird, particular symphony these actors are playing is making some entertaining, though atonal, music. Chekhov’s characters share a similar lack of understanding with each other, but his is a more internal, unexpressed disconnect. Bradshaw’s characters speak directly, often in blunt language, and cannot relate. 

Scott Elliott’s production for The New Group amplifies Bradshaw’s play, primarily, through its genius casting by Judy Henderson. The ten-person ensemble is stacked with unique, mesmerizing performers, all of whom find truth in the absurdity of the play. Deadpan Hari Nef is quick with a barb, but when the armor is cracked, there’s an aching person behind it. Nat Wolff, as Kevin (Bradshaw’s version of Konstantin), is sensitive and volatile, struggling against things beyond anyone’s understanding. His Kevin is withdrawn, but can suddenly turn red in the face, snarling and spitting, if he’s activated. He’s beyond what he considers the simple concerns of someone like his mother. As Nina, Aleyse Shannon is the production’s emotional heart and delivers a devastating performance in a final scene with Wolff. It’s there that the absurdity of the play finally settles and we see that under all the laughing, there’s tragedy.

Elliott keeps the play moving, but allows plentiful space for the awkward pauses. In over two and a half hours, the production never dips in energy. It’s constantly enthralling, mostly because it’s so unmoored. The characters choose to do the worst thing they could possibly do in almost every situation, but it feels grounded. Derek McLane’s set lifts the playing space up into the Linney Theatre on a series of mismatched planks. A dirty red curtain hangs behind it saying: there’s glamor, but it’s gross. Qween Jean’s costumes, similarly, tell us these characters are acting in their clothing: Nef’s character pairs a Celine hat with a sports bra and Crocs, high and low fashion exemplified. Posey’s Irene appears in a form-fitting green dress at first, then in voluminous, belted ensembles, always with a pair of rose-tinted glasses. Is she using those lenses to see the world in a more favorable light or is she using them to avoid seeing the truth? 

The Seagull/Woodstock, NY is surprising, hilarious, and pretty unique in the scope of this season. The combination of its near-constant jokes with its infectious strangeness and an unmissable ensemble adds up to an enjoyable piece of theatre. More plays should lean into their weirdness. Not everything has to be polished within an inch of its life. Isn’t that closer to reality than so-called realism?


Lane Williamson

Lane Williamson is co-editor of Exeunt and a contributing critic at The Stage. He is a member of the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle.

Review: The Seagull/Woodstock, NY at the Pershing Square Signature Center Show Info


Produced by The New Group

Directed by Scott Elliott

Written by Thomas Bradshaw, adapted from Chekhov

Scenic Design Derek McLane (set), Qween Jean (costumes)

Lighting Design Cha See

Sound Design Rob Milburn, Michael Bodeen

Cast includes David Cale, Ato Essandoh, Patrick Foley, Hari Nef, Daniel Oreskes, Parker Posey, Bill Sage, Aleyse Shannon, Amy Stiller, Nat Wolff

Link
Show Details & Tickets

Running Time 2hr 40min


the
Exeunt
newsletter


Enter your email address below to get an occasional email with Exeunt updates and featured articles.