Review by Kyle Osborne Photos: Scott Suchman
Ever walk through a door, take a look around and instantly decide that you like the place? That’s the feeling one gets when the lights come up on the East Village apartment belonging to Vera (the amazing Tana Hicken). Designed with authentic precision by Russell Metheny, the apartment has all the touches of an octogenarian resident—a rotary dial phone, bottles of Campari that haven’t been touched in years, and plenty of books. We’re already happy to be here and the characters haven’t even begun to speak.
The play gets its name from a bicycle road trip a twenty-something has just taken from the West coast to his Grandmother’s place, the aforementioned apartment, although that wasn’t necessarily his original destination. A 3am knock on the door gets her out of bed to let Leo (Grant Harrison, looking a bit like Dweezil Zappa) and his bike inside.
We sense an immediate mix of tension and affection between the two, and over the next hour and a half, we’ll come to understand how those emotions can exist side-by-side in the same way an old woman and a young man can. Which is to say not easily, but it can be done.
What we know from the outset is that Leo is angry, an idealist and has just gone through a tragic event while on the trip. Vera is revealed to be an old fashioned lefty—a Communist—not the Russian kind so much as the kind that listened to hipster music and talked politics more than a half century earlier.
It also becomes apparent that Vera is showing signs of Alzheimer’s, and it’s getting progressively worse. Ms. Hicken’s portrayal is a Master class in physical detail; early on she pours a cup of coffee with a small shake—not too much, just enough so that we’ll see later in the play that the shakes have gotten more pronounced. A small touch that seemed completely authentic.
There are two other characters in the play; Leo’s girlfriend, played by Heather Haney and a one-night-stand, spritely played by Annie Chang. Although both of these actresses are superb, and their characters serve as devices to pull more information from Leo, in some ways they are minor distractions. The unseen neighbor across the hall who Ms. Herzog concocted seemed a better way to go. The script and the two leads do just fine conjuring crystal clear mental images for the audience on their own.
Although emotions run high and the moods are varied, playwright Amy Herzog’s script is never far away from a light moment or a clever quip. Honestly, I laughed more during this one act play than I have in recent memory. And they were “earned” laughs that didn’t rely on anything more than the turn of a phrase or a priceless deadpan expression.
If I could, I’d see this play a second or even a third time. It’s not easy to find company this good, conversation this free flowing, and two people (or characters, rather ) who are so engaging.
I have to confess, when the lights went down, I wasn’t ready to leave. If Vera had offered me a cup of coffee, I’d have stayed all night.
‘4000 Miles continues at Studio Theatre through April 28th. More info and tickets at: http://www.studiotheatre.org/