Indecent Review
Miranda Crawford
4/5 Stars
The Stage begins in darkness. A light haze covers the room. Seven actors sit in a line. Suddenly the lights come up and the actors move like puppets. A solitary clarinet plays as the cast set the scene for Indecent, this week’s ADC main show, which I had the pleasure to watch this play on opening night.
Indecent is a 2015 play by Paula Vogel. It recounts the controversy surrounding the play God of Vengeance by Sholem Asch, which was produced on Broadway in 1923, and for which the producer and cast were arrested and convicted on grounds of obscenity.
The first half of the play races through the early days of God of Vengeance, from Asch’s original script in 1906 to its arrival in American theatres in 1922. The latter half witnesses the play’s downfall – as well as that of its writer and cast.
The first thing that should be noted is the direction of the production by Elizabeth Laurence. The set is simple, yet effective, using only uneven wooden panels as a backdrop, along with projections of subtitles and scene changes. These projections made clear the jumps in time which could otherwise have been confusing, without distracting from what was on stage. Laurence clearly understands the importance of simplicity, stillness and silence – while also giving us more elaborate set pieces to enjoy.
Indecent features many characters (at least five times as many as actors to play them), songs, dances, and even a brief cabaret scene. There is something particularly immersive in the way they combined many elements of Jewish culture in telling their story. There is much humour to be had from start to finish, though it is intermingled with some very emotive scenes.
The play has a strong ensemble cast, with none willing to steal the spotlight from their colleagues – it feels very much a shared performance. I would like to commend Eirlys Lovell-Jones (LJ) and Anna Sanderson for their beautiful singing throughout the show. Both are also adept at comedy and drama in their performances, as well as separating their characters particularly convincingly.
Francesca Lees is also convincing in switching between her various characters – though her greatest moments were as Virginia McFadden, an American actor who merely wishes to be in Asch’s play to frustrate her parents. Her brief time as Reina was also moving.
Alessandra Rey was generally convincing in her performances and gave an intriguing monologue as an American rabbi, tying together many of the issues the play presents. Jake Burke offers a bold and ostentatious performance as Rudolph Schildkraut and is one of the main sources of comedy in the play. I was pleased to see his distinctly different performance as Asch at the play’s end, which he played with subtlety and demonstrated the effect of age on the character. Sam Benatar gave a somewhat sheepish portrayal of the young firebrand playwright Sholem Asch; it would have been good to have seen a greater sense of passion within him. His performance was sympathetic and enjoyable to watch, however.
While the play is an ensemble piece, and the actors were generally all strong, there was one performance in particular that stood out above the rest. Dominika Wiatrowska plays Lemml, the narrator and the audience’s conduit to the story. At first, Wiatrowska is endearing, charismatic and funny – this is largely continued through the first half. Though there is very little variation in the innocent eagerness of Lemml, it is through this that we develop a great love of him. Thus, when Wiatrowska delivers a speech filled with sadness and rage, it is extremely moving. Notwithstanding other excellent performances, Wiatrowska gives a character we truly care for – which is no mean feat.
There were a couple of issues in the dialogue – a few lines were lost through a combination of microphone issues, a lack of enunciation or projection, or music playing over the top. This occasionally made it a little hard to follow. There were also a couple of moments where actors seemed to stand around on stage after dancing, as though they were unsure where to move. While I certainly found the first half of the play amusing, I felt some of the real emotions at play here were missing – the struggles that the characters faced did not seem as apparent as they could have. Lastly, given that characters Dina and Reina were supposed to have a relationship with each other – both in their performances in The God of Vengeance and “off stage” – they could have been more clearly enamoured with one another. It was not immediately obvious that they were lovers.
This being said, the play was enjoyable to watch and was clearly made with passion, while being free of any self-indulgence. This is very pleasing to see. Nothing was over the top, the story was clear, and the acting was strong.
The live band of four players immersed us in the story and really aided in underscoring the emotions of each scene. The lighting was simple but effective, and lacked any of those awkward moments we often see. I particularly enjoyed a moment where Lemml watches a sunset, which is a brilliant use of lighting; in another moment, the lights use a gauze of some sort to create a prison bar effect.
Indecent is certainly different to the run-of-the-mill plays we often see littering the stage. As I have said, the passion with which it was made is evident and they have pulled together an impressive range of dramatic elements, all of which, from set and lighting, to music, to the acting on the stage, really work together cohesively in telling the story. It’s an interesting story to witness, though a sad one, and I daresay you will think of it after the run has ended. It is a show I would highly recommend seeing.