Apostasy

photo by Pavel Antonov

Urban Stages
West 30th Street

Urban Stages’ production last night of Apostasy adequately showcased what can easily be deemed a complex and rich play about human need with some of the world’s greatest themes: faith, constancy, family, money, death, affection, love and human contact. If these themes seem overwhelming in quantity or quality, the framework of the play held them together tightly enough and lightly enough to ensure that the theatergoer did not leave the theater overburdened and hurting from too heavy a feast on the human condition.

As an audience member, the framework of the play was a series of ethical questions about human need and what the characters could and should offer one another. No one character could fulfill another completely leaving question after question about what is appropriate to ask of another human being. The play is full of moments when the face of the situation is absolute inappropriateness tinged with a question of: given the situation, is this actually appropriate? Or, better, does love and real human need trump lies, power plays, appropriateness and professionalism? See, what seemed boring thematically can actually be rather provocative.

Moreover, the play worked a bit like a card game. Each player only had so many cards to play based on their identity. They could use those in any way they pleased to hurt or help one another as the play wore on. The power plays were shrewd and surprising, in terms of what could be played to get another to do what one wants. The sick woman had: vulnerability, impending death and money to play with. The televangelist had: fame of a sort, certainty about life after death, charm and an able body. The daughter had shrewdness, her identity as a daughter and knowledge of her mother. It was only a matter of time before one person ultimately got what they wanted the most.

The acting was marvelous. Everything about the production only enhanced the play. It is a joy when you can see the play clearly through the production.

The only critique I had was a nagging question about the reality of what the televangelist had to offer. In the play he offers to take this woman back with him to his church and community as a lover and into the church. As a black televangelist, he would never be able to take a white, rich, unsaved Jewish woman as a lover (with no plans of marriage) in a church. The church would revolt. He would have problems with his authority. It’s just true and unrealistic that he could openly offer her a relationship outside of marriage and possibly even inside of marriage, given the nature of churches.

I do recommend this play. For a play about a televangelist and a Jewish woman who thinks she may want to convert, it is religion-light. It is more about common human need, the power of loneliness, our solo nature in the world when faced with death and the obligations that tie us down in life. Most of the needs in the play are either answered or addressed by religion, but that was not the task of this play—perhaps for another evening. This is a sterling production of a provocative (in the good way) play. It is also surprisingly not too heavy and not too light, perhaps for those who ask not for cream and not for milk, but 'half and half' in their coffee.

Special note: There were less seats than most off-Broadway productions. This would typically fall under off-off Broadway. But, I think it is officially sponsored by Equity pushing it up a notch. Just in case you are wondering. The ticket price to quality ratio is quite good. You will definitely get your money's worth. Additionally, one of the most disorganized experiences I've ever had at the front of the house before the play. Don't let that scare you. Just roll with the punches.