BWW Reviews: Blessing Sees The Arms Race as A WALK IN THE WOODS

The Soviet Union only had a few years left in it when Lee Blessing's Pulitzer-finalist A Walk In The Woods hit Broadway in 1988. The two-hander featured Robert Prosky as a comically jovial Russian negotiator and Sam Waterston as his more reserved, less experienced American counterpart.

Set in Geneva, during endless sessions of arms negotiations, the play has one scene per season showing the two rivals taking a break from their official duties to relax for a friendly stroll where they can let down their guards for a bit and freely, though cautiously, discuss their unofficial feelings about the buildup of nuclear weaponry and their roles in keeping their homelands safe and powerful.

Casting two middle-aged males in 1988 was certainly a realistic reflection of Cold War politics, but while the play is still set in the late 1980s, The Keen Company's new production is given a more contemporary look in terms of both age and gender.

As American John Honeyman, Paul Niebanck keeps the character as a cautiously reserved fellow on the early side of middle age, but the gender and age of his Soviet companion has been substantially altered. Kathleen Chalfant, a good 20 years his senior, plays the renamed Russian Irina Botvinnick, and though nothing else in the play has been changed, the dynamic between the two characters adds a new layer to director Jonathan Silverstein's placidly thoughtful production.

Honeyman is new on the job and his resume is no match for Botvinnick's, but he's smart enough to be suspicious when the Russian first invites him for a private stroll. Chalfant gives her a soft, motherly personality, which may or may not be a ploy to melt the American's defenses.

Blessing didn't script a fair fight, as the Russian walks away with the best lines ("Without nuclear weapons we would be nothing more than a rich, powerful Canada and an enormous Poland.") and more meaningful observations. At one point she notes that meeting in the lovely Swiss surroundings blinds them to the urgency of the matter and that they'd get far more done if they negotiated at the bottom of a missile silo.

But while the wonderful Chalfant, one of today's most interesting and versatile stage actors, keeps you guessing as to whether the wry Botvinnick is really bonding with Honeyman or just trying to outsmart him, this is very much a team effort. Though an innocent idealist on the surface, Niebanck's Honeyman is the kind of good listener who learns from his antagonist the best way to overcome her.

A Walk In The Woods may not have retained its immediacy in this era where Americans are more concerned about limited acts of terrorism than massive nuclear destruction, but Blessing's simple plea for military sanity, coupled with fine work by Chalfant and Niebanck, make this a welcome addition to the young season.

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