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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2010 > September > 13 > Entry
Review: ‘Vigil’ at Hyde Park Theatre
When it comes down to life’s two inevitabilities, only one stands out as fodder for hilarity. Taxes are one of life’s depressing realities that it’s hard to laugh about, even in a theater.
Morris Panych’s play, “Vigil,” showing now through Oct. 9 at Hyde Park Theater, is a darkly comic look at the slow and steady march toward death. It’s a portrait of two people, lonely and misanthropic, who eventually prove that misery does love company.
After receiving a letter from his long-estranged auntie, Grace (Lana Dieterich), Kemp (Ken Webster) has quit his job and come cross-country to be by her side. Grace is knocking on death’s door, and Kemp arrives, suitcase in hand, to ease her journey through the threshold.
Only death doesn’t seem to be answering, and Kemp is more concerned with his inheritance than his aunt’s emotional wellbeing.
Yet the production leaves a hanging question as to what’s actually there to inherit. Set designer Paul Davis’ attention to detail in the decrepitude of Grace’s bedroom is nothing short of impressive. The stained walls and three-layers of peeling wallpaper, however, do little to convince us that Kemp would stick around as long as he does if inheritance is his only motivation.
But this is not just a play about greed. “Vigil” explores the humor and sadness in lost opportunities, long-standing resentments and interminable loneliness.
Though Dieterich remains scornfully silent for most of the play, she skillfully shows us that an actor doesn’t have to be speaking to make her point. Her expressiveness is a delight to watch, and her silences are never empty.
Kemp fills the time and silence with cynical reflections on childhood memories, and the laughs are built around moments of pseudo-shock. We don’t know whether he’s in earnest or aiming to get a reaction, but it’s hard not to laugh at some of his most bitter diatribes.
Whether it’s the script itself or Webster’s deadpan delivery, this is a show of one-liners. The pace is somewhat erratic, partly due to the number of blackouts between short scenes, but it picks up in the second half.
“Vigil” explores the consequences of a lifetime of unfulfilled hopes and dreams, ultimately encouraging us to make the best of the time we have — if only to avoid a depressing end.
‘Vigil’ continues 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturday through Oct. 19 at Hyde Park Theatre. $17-$19 ((Thursdays pay-what-you-can). www.hydeparktheatre.org
Cate Blouke is an American-Statesman freelance arts critic.
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