Review: THE VISIT at Pasadena Playhouse
THE VISIT settles in in Pasadena through October 4
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Is there an expiration date on justice? When justice is disguised as revenge, is it still justice? What would you do if you were offered life-changing money to sell someone out? When do you let a past hurt go and begin healing? Can payback ever be enough? The townspeople of the Swiss town of Güllen find themselves faced with those moral and ethical dilemmas when one of their previous residents, who left town in a blazing scandal, returns, having made her name and fortune and become the richest woman in the world.
THE VISIT, a 1956 tragicomic play by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, now at The Pasadena Playhouse, has been produced several times for the stage and turned into an opera libretto, a Broadway musical starring Chita Rivera, a Lebanese television episode, a Senegalese film, and an American film with Ingrid Bergman and Anthony Quinn, among other media, so it has clearly touched nerves throughout generations. That’s because, for as much as the world has changed since 1956, humanity has not. We are still grappling with the same existential issues that have plagued us probably from antiquity, which I suppose is unique to each of us so we will likely always be struggling, which maybe isn’t a bad thing. If not confronted with hard questions, who will we ever learn the hard truths about ourselves?
Dürrenmatt’s script here adapted by Maurice Valency makes it unclear when the show takes place, appearing by turns to be the 1950s and then the current time when smart phones appear. It adds to the unreality of the story, which, as directed by Tony winner Darko Tresnjak, is a sharp and penetrating look at the human condition, eliciting nuanced performances from his cast. It would be easy to let this show go over the top, but it’s far more powerful when reined in. It’s much more human that way, and, thusly, much more unsettling.
Jefferson Mays, John Lavelle
and Matthew Henerson
The imbalance of dark humor and disturbing pathos is deftly handled by the cast, which is uniformly superb, led by Melinda Page Hamilton and Tony winner Jefferson Mays as Claire and Anton, former lovers who are entwined through time. They are sublime, playing off each other with both her justified confidence and misguided quest for revenge, and his regretful melancholy veering into panicked paranoia. Particular standouts in the excellent ensemble include John Lavelle as the town’s burgomaster, clearly relishing his role; Christian Brillas as the town priest; and Lauren Worsham and Jake Levy, who are perhaps the creepiest things in the already super-creepy show as two eunuchs who are Claire’s henchmen.
Adding to the overall effect are an extraordinary bi-level, rotating set by scenic designer Alexander Dodge and associate scenic designer Clayton Dombac; fantastic videos from projection designer Aaron Rhyne; and eye-popping costumes by Charlotte DeVaux Shields and associate costumer Leslie Malitz. An escaped panther adds a whole nother level of apprehension while also representing the animal instincts of the rapacious townspeople as they hurtle toward reckoning.
In the end, Güllen represents the world at large, and Dürrenmatt’s script holds up a mirror asking: What is the price of your humanity? Your soul? And how to make peace with that price once you’ve settled your bill?
Photos by Jeff Lorch.
THE VISIT settles in at The Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Avenue, through October 4. Tickets are available at pasadenaplayhouse.org.
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