Small Mouth Sounds

Tickets from $75  Buy Tickets

SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS

Photo: Ben Arons

Cititour.com Review
Actions speaker louder than words, they say. As it happens, so do gestures, sighs, voiceless screams, and above all, silence – things we may need to be reminded of in our ever-deafening world, and a lesson that comes through loud and clear in Bess Wohl’s remarkable “Small Mouth Sounds,” being given a second production by Ars Nova at Pershing Square Signature Center.

A quirkily comic and simultaneously dramatically affecting work, it’s come to its full potential thanks to the protean talents of its seven-person cast, and especially the inventive direction of Rachel Chavkin, the current “It Girl” of theater who consistently takes superior material (“Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812,” “Hadestown”) and raises it to the next, seemingly impossible level through her crafty staging and connection with her actors.

The play’s setting, appropriately enough, is a retreat where silence is meant to be the prime means of knowing oneself, led by a never-seen “teacher” (voiced by JoJo Gonzalez), who, like many such speakers can seem like either a charlatan or inspiration, depending on your own level of skepticism. As for his students, we initially know nothing about them and only gradually put some of the pieces together.

What is tearing apart lesbian couple Joan (an appealing Marcia DeBonis) and Judy (the marvelously expressively Quincy Tyler Bernstine)? Why has the aged Jan (a beautifully modulated Max Baker) risked mosquito bite after mosquito bite to come to the woods? Will we learn why Alicia (the delightful Zoe Winters) is in such obvious pain – yet also a bit of a hot mess? And is the very Zen-like Rodney (the fine Babak Tafti, who spends much of the show in various states of undress) as put together as he seems?

The answers, when and if they come, are both predictable and surprising. The main exception -- and the only character whose life story we actually find out (presented in a beautifully crafted monologue that will be heard in audition rooms for years to come) -- is the nerdy Ned (the excellent Brad Heberlee), who has faced the travails of a modern Job. While he has trouble remembering the question he so desperately seeks the answer to, it turns out that personal connection, not spiritual enlightenment, may be the true solution to his dilemma.

There are moments when this 100-minute work feels as if it’s worn out its welcome, but when the lasts scene is played, you’ll feel small for having wanted the show to end. And if you say nothing when exiting the theater, don’t be surprised. Words, even for those who make a living writing them, somehow feel inadequate.
By Brian Scott Lipton


Visit the Site
http://smallmouthsounds.com

Cast
Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Zoë Winters, Max Baker, Carmen Zilles, James Seol, Marcia DeBonis, Jojo Gonzalez, Brad Heberlee and Babak Tafti

Open/Close Dates
Opening 7/13/2016
Closing 10/9/2016

Box Office
212-279-4200

Theatre Info
Pershing Square Signature Center
480 West 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036
Map



Comments

^Top