If you have not ventured into an Off-Broadway theater in a while, there are some excellent options currently available. If you attend regularly try not to miss Washington Square from the Axis Theatre Company. The production is Grade A storytelling, acting, costuming, lighting and mood setting.
This play is a new adaptation of the 1880 Henry James novel which has been famously and frequently seen as The Heiress. I saw the Jessica Chastain Broadway version in 2012. Olivia de Haviland did the Oscar winning film. The story has topical appeal with its central themes of class, wealth and social status intertwined with women’s freedoms and personal happiness.
One aspect which makes this take so fascinating is the location. Blocks away from the Washington Square setting, this small Greenwich Village basement really enhances the claustrophobia Catherine must feel cooped up in her tyrannical father’s lavish brownstone. The curtains are drawn and the mood is dark.
The set consists of two chairs. No adornments on the walls or floors. Just lighting and four actors in resplendent period costumes. A father who hates familiarity. “It’s vulgar” he says. Repressed formality is the world here. Happiness is not a goal. In this particular closet daughter Catherine lives under strict rule.
The plot is simple. Father blames overly plain daughter for his wife’s death during childbirth. He is a domineering grump who bellows “you’re as intelligent as a bundle of shawls”. His widowed sister lives with them and yearns for a romanticism which eludes her at an advanced age. She noses her way in anyway when Catherine begins a relationship with a handsome, jobless, penniless suitor. All the other characters are stripped away in Randy Sharp’s adaptation so the whole meal is a delicious entrée.
The four performances are spot on perfect. Dee Pelletier is a delightful busybody whose backstory is apparent through her current words and actions. Both men, George Demas (Doctor) and Jon McCormick (Morris Townsend), are complexly drawn people with nuanced motivations. Britt Genelin is, quite frankly, breathtaking in the role of Catherine. All the layers are extraordinarily developed and utterly believable. Her physicality amazes. This has to be one of the tightest ensembles on any New York stage right now.
In addition to writing the adaptation, Ms. Sharp directed this return engagement. You can always count on Axis to set a pitch perfect mood as in their tensely wrought High Noon, the immigrant musical Evening – 1910 and the howling dust bowl setting of Last Man Club. While always minimalistic yet impressively effective in design, the storytelling and casting are always maximally delivered. The last seconds of this one are brilliant. Go.
Washington Square is running through April 1, 2023.