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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2008 > November > 17 > Entry
Review: ‘The Nina Variations’ at Dougherty Arts Center
“The Nina Variations” is a sort of quantum Chekhov. It takes one of the most emotionally charged, and unfulfilling, moments of “The Seagull” and proceeds to unpack it, twist it, and turn it around in every way possible. From a literary perspective, it’s enlightening and entertaining. From a human perspective, it’s simply moving.
In “The Seagull,” a diverse group gathers at a lakeside estate, squabbles, and, in various forms, falls in love. Nina, a young actress, is pursued by the brash, young writer Treplev, but follows an older rival, Trigorin, to Moscow. In one of the final scenes, she returns briefly to visit Treplev, they say almost nothing clearly, and she leaves before he shoots himself.
Playwright Steven Dietz now gives the pair some 40-odd variations to try and find the words that Chekhov didn’t give them or, in some instances, explain those that he did.
If you’re not familiar with “The Seagull,” it’s all right. “Nina” provides a brief summary of the relevant highlights complete with charming illustrations. If, like me, you’re not a fan of Chekhov, that’s also fine. Dietz certainly riffs on the Russian’s style at various points, but the wit and emotion is his own.
As the semi-Sisyphean pair Rachel McGinnis and Aaron Hallaway are vibrant. Both are mercurial, to say the least, shifting through variations of emotion and action that seem almost exhaustive. At his heart, though, Hallaway’s Treplev seems nervous, nebbishly intelligent, sad, and a little hopeful. Nina is more bittersweet, alternately laughing and solemnly reminiscing.
However, and it’s a credit to both actors that it works, the characters become both figuratively and, occasionally, literally interchangeable. That’s the spectrum that Dietz provides while plumbing the possibilities of where Chekhov’s scene could have gone, and the pair makes every alternative, whether charming or frightening, seem plausible.
That comes across in the more human moments of the play, where Nina and Treplev seem most real — screaming at, laughing with, and loving each other — more often than in the moments where Dietz breaks the fourth wall. Those can offer witty commentary, including some humorous banter about critics, but they’re less affecting.
The exception is, for me, the most powerful moment of the play. Nina and Treplev dissect Chekhov’s lines, he reading them with only a hint of emotion on top of what’s obviously contained inside and she offering an exegesis of what that Nina might have meant. The simple, blunt, feeling interpretation could make for a successful essay. It would also likely move at least one reader to tears.
Each transition is highlighted by a number projected on the back wall. While at first it seems like some changes come on haphazardly, often silently switching moods mid-conversation, they later serve as punctuation. Director Will Hollis Snider and Dietz flow from long, discursive dialogs where changes may go unnoticed to short scenes made up of only “I love you,” a pause, and a flash of changing numbers that cut off any possibility of a response.
Of course the question left at the end of “The Nina Variations” is whether other scenes might return that possibility or simply come back to the inevitability of a gunshot.
(Joey Seiler is a freelance theater writer and critic.)
(“The Nina Variations” continues 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays through Nov. 22 at the Dougherty Arts Center, 1110 Barton Springs Road. $12-$15. 708-1893, gobotrick.org)
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