Playwright Ayad Akhtar is one of the most
compelling dramatists writing for the stage today. His Disgraced
won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize. During
the past few years, his work has been performed at Connecticut regional
theaters, winning numerous awards including the 2016 Best Play from the
Connecticut Critics Circle for The
Invisible Hand. His new play, Junk, continues his exploration of the
intersection of human nature, religion, politics, morality, and finance, but on
a much grander scale. While in his
previous works there were just a handful of actors, in Junk the cast has over 20 speaking parts. It is more of an English state-of-the-nation
play, which playwright and author Jeffrey Sweet describes as a play that
tackles the “big political picture.”
The focus of Junk is the rough and tumble times, beginning in the early 1980’s,
of Wall Street’s infatuation with high-yield bonds, known as junk bonds. Robert Merkin is a financier who has come up
with the idea of how a company can take over another through the issuance of
junk bonds. In his words, debt is an
asset. His target is Everson Steel and
United and his conduit is the company run by an up-and-coming businessman named
Israel Peterson. The machinations portrayed
in the production can be riveting at times as strategies and intrigues take
shape. A host of players—on both sides
of the battle for Everson’s survival--become involved in the gambit as does the
F.B.I. who begin investigating Merkin for securities fraud and other illegal
activities. In the end, the resolution
is equal parts satisfying and bittersweet.
Akhtar states in an author’s note that the
play is “a fictionalized account suggested by events in the historical public
record.” This makes the work both captivating
and, at least for the non-Wall Street professionals in the audience, somewhat off-putting
as greed and arrogance take center stage.
But this is not a simple story.
The playwright succeeds in placing the narrative in a much larger
historical context that has produced profound and lasting changes in
society. He has skillfully woven into
the drama many connecting parts, alternating allegiances, and hypnotizing
twists and turns. Sometimes the action
and language on stage is hard to follow as the vocabulary and business jargon will
be unfamiliar to most individuals.
However, Junk is anything but
dry and tedious. The gaps in
understanding are greatly overshadowed by the sheer exhilaration of the production.
The sizeable cast, led by Steven Pasquale
as Robert Merkin, is superb. Pasquale,
known more for his musical theater roles, is a fervent zealot, almost
evangelical in his pursuit of rewriting the take over textbook. The actor is at times charismatic, frightening
and unforgiving as he stalks his corporate prey. Other notable members of the Lincoln Center
troupe are Matthew Rauch as the brash and boastful Israel Peterman; Joey
Slotnik as the sleazy, not-to-be-trusted Boris Pronsky; Rick Holmes as Thomas
Everson, Jr., the upright, dedicated president of the doomed Everson Steel; and
Michael Siberry as Leo Tresler, an old-school financier wavering between the
new reality and conventional traditions.
Director Doug Hughes has the numerous
scenes moving at a crackling pace, paralleling the swift maneuverings of the
big deal. He brings forth both a vigor
and forcefulness to the production, with characters flitting in and out of the turmoil
in rapid succession, as well as providing intervals for explanatory
flourishes. The director deftly builds a
palpable tension as the climax of the show nears its conclusion. Hughes also elicits exacting portrayals by
the cast, which gives the overall production an epic quality.
Scenic Designer John Lee Beatty has
created a sleek two-tiered set that, along with Mark Benett’s Original Music
and Sound Design and Ben Stanton’s Lighting, pulsates with intensity while at
the same time aptly compartmentalizes the action into highly charged vignettes.
Junk, an engrossing and
gripping drama, playing at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater.
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