Review: VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE at Cygnet Theatre

Christopher Durang’s “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” is a riotous blend of sibling rivalry, absurdist farce, and Chekhovian melancholy.  A laugh-out-loud farce with real heart, Director Anthony Methvin finds balance in the absurdity while still landing the emotional punches.

The story unfolds in a charming Pennsylvania cottage where middle-aged siblings Vanya and Sonia (Andrew Oswald and Shana Wride) have spent their lives caring for their late parents and are now nursing coffee and regrets. 

 Enter their glamorous movie-star sister Masha (Eileen Bowman), who arrives suddenly for the weekend with her much-younger paramour, Spike (Sean Brew). She’s there for a costume party and to casually announce she’s selling the house. Add in an aspiring actress next door (Emma Nossal) and a prophetic cleaning woman (Daisy Martinez), and you’ve got a weekend’s worth of chaos, confessions, and comedy.

This play depends entirely on its ensemble, and happily, this one is an excellent one.

As Sonia, Shana Wride gives a tour de force performance, transforming from a self-pitying wallflower to a luminous version of an evil queen, but one with the voice and manner of Maggie Smith in California Suite, which was a highlight of the show.  Her second-act phone call from a mysterious admirer is a quiet, stunning moment that brings real emotional depth to the comedy. Eileen Bowman’s Masha is every bit the fading diva,  glamorous, self-absorbed, and trying to remain blissfully unaware of everything she doesn’t want to deal with.  Bowman grounds her in an aching fear of irrelevance that keeps the caricature human. Andrew Oswald’s Vanya is the slow-burn counterpoint: a quiet soul whose Act Two monologue erupts into an impassioned, hilarious defense of bygone decency and simpler analog life, though underscored by the reminder that it was also a decade in which to be gay was to be stigmatized.

Sean Brew brings gleeful physical comedy to the oblivious Spike, all energy and ego in equal measure, while Daisy Martinez’s Cassandra delivers prophecy with a Greek flair and impeccable timing. Emma Nossal’s Nina is a sweet, starry-eyed counterbalance to the household’s neuroses, and together the cast captures the delicate line between farce and feeling that makes Durang’s work sing.

This production opens the second theatrical space at the Cygnet’s new home at Liberty Station, and this black box theatre, nicknamed The Dottie, opens with fairytale flair thanks to Scenic designer Yi-Chien Lee’s storybook cottage, complete with a diamond lattice bay window and whimsical details (how many hidden swans can you find?). Curtis Mueller’s lighting adds warmth and sparkle, and Evan Eason’s crisp sound design is crisp in the intimate black box. Heather K. Nunn’s clever costumes, Masha’s ever-changing wigs by  Peter Herman, and Bonnie Durben’s detailed props all elevate the whimsy while nodding lovingly to the Snow White fantasy.

It’s not necessary to know your Chekhov to enjoy “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.” Still, if you do, you’ll recognize the affection in how Durang skewers the ennui of those country-estate dramas. This is Chekhov with cocktails and reminds us that it is the messy, enduring bonds of family, the ache of change, and the small, stubborn joys that keep us going.

How To Get Tickets

 “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” is playing at the Cygnet Theatre in Liberty Station through November 9th.  For ticket and showtime information, go to www.cygnettheater.com