Posted: Feb. 9, 2015 at 1:15 p.m.

Christopher Durang clearly believes in the value of an exhaustive liberal arts education paired with a wide knowledge of pop culture. Those are two things you’ll want to bring with you to any production of “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” if you want to most fully appreciate all the wordplay and clever in-jokes of this comedy.

Farmers Alley in Kalamazoo produces this erudite story of three siblings, a hot young lover, a doomsaying soothsayer of a housekeeper, and a young ingénue from across the pond. Directed by David Alpert, the six-person cast tries to make the play as accessible as possible to an audience who might not have memorized the works of Anton Chekhov or lived through the 50s. For the most part, they succeed admirably.

It opens with John Shuman as Vanya and Wendye Clarendon as Sonia brilliantly portraying a bored pair of siblings who have missed out on life and bicker about the taste of coffee and whether they love or hate each other. Shuman earns the first laughs of the night with his contented enjoyment of coffee and the nearly demented smile that makes one wonder whether the setting is a group home for the mentally challenged.

Clarendon does little to dispel the impression with her spot-on portrayal of a woman whose favorite pastime is to bellyache about how miserable her life is. She raises the stakes even higher when her more successful sister Masha, played by Elizabeth Terrel, enters the scene. Then she mixes jealousy with resentment and is delightfully verbal about her complaints.

Terrel creates a sister that is easy to be annoyed by and jealous of. Masha is sure of her own success and is as self-absorbed in her arrogance as Sonia is in her self-deprecation. As siblings, these three entertain with the absurdity of their relationships. They are fully committed to each of their own idiosyncrasies and all of them have a talent at monologuing. And each actor gets his or her turn at lengthy speeches on everything from phone calls to haranguing the younger generation to costume mishaps.

Speaking of the younger generation, Nathan Cockroft struts with magnificent energy, flaunting his muscles and sex appeal as Spike, Masha’s young lover. Vanya asks his sister at one point whether Spike keeps removing his clothes because he’s figured out Vanya is gay, and Masha responds saying she rather thinks it is because he’s figured out she’s not. At any rate, he gets everyone staring in admiration at his body and Cockroft finds just the right notes to show that Spike is more brawn than brain and about as ditzy as the stereotypical blonde.

The blonde in this show, Kate Thomsen’s Nina, isn’t dumb at all. She makes up for intelligence and innocent charm what Spike lacks. Together Thomsen and Cockroft show two different sides of a younger generation each attracted by Masha’s fame, but for different reasons. Thomsen created a Nina who is sweet, without guile, and one of the few people on stage who is earnest, passionate, and still an optimist.

Stealing the show was Cassandra Ward, playing a character of her own namesake – Cassandra. Like the Apolline blind prophetess, she is full of doom and gloom and warnings of dire things to come. Ward chews the scenery in the most appropriate way possible, bouncing around the stage, making exaggerated arm motions, leaping, climbing, and getting in everyone’s faces with her dire predictions which people are reluctant to believe.

Each of these actors embrace both the absurd and the authentic in their roles. They find the balance between the two so that the play can be comedic while having its moments of truth and authenticity.

It’s also a play that compliments its audience by expecting them to be self-aware and educated individuals, something appropriate for a theater that performs just minutes away from a state university. It is filled with references to Chekhov, running merrily with sly winks at “The Cherry Orchard,” “The Sea Gull,” “Three Sisters,” “Uncle Vanya,” and more. It is also filled with jokes about Neil Simon, 50s culture, the theater, and Greek tragedy. In the second half, Vanya goes off on a lengthy tirade where he trots out most of the major television shows of the 1950s and explains why even at their most banal they were better than what we have today. It helps if you have read Chekhov and know about pop culture history, which most of Farmers Alley audience members appeared to do. However, the actors tell the story so well that you don’t have to get all the references to enjoy the humor and laughter of this show.

Within the two and a half hours of this show, there is a lot to explore – personal responsibility, life choices, what brings meaning to life, artistic endeavors, and the way we treat one another. Yet, it never gets heavy. Alpert truly is adept at figuring out where there needs to be silences, where the play should sprint, and when it should sit quietly.

The sold-out crowd in Kalamazoo found much to appreciate in this rendition of Durang’s newest work. It is clever, well-performed, and filled with authentically honest laughter.

Interested in commenting on this review? CLICK HERE to join the conversation on our Facebook page!

SHOW DETAILS:

“Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike”
Farmers Alley Theatre
221 Farmers Alley, Kalamazoo, MI 49007
7:30 p.m. Thursday Feb. 12 & 19
8:00 p.m. Friday & Saturday, Feb. 6, 7, 13, 14, 20 & 21
2:00 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 8, 15 & 22
$31 on Friday/Saturday/Sunday and $29 on Thursday.
Senior, student and group rates are available.
2 hours and 34 minutes (including one 15-minute intermission
269-343-2727
www.farmersalleytheatre.com.

– See more at: http://www.encoremichigan.com/article.html?article=9359#sthash.02tqn0NQ.dpuf