Incident at Vichy ****
Incident at Vichy
Total Theatre
Richard Shepard
March 17, 2009
If you want to see a perfectly directed (by Scott Alan Evans), beautifully acted play written by a master who knew how to construct a play in terms of content, dialogue and action better than almost any American writer of the last hundred years, don’t miss Arthur Miller’s brilliant 1964 work, Incident at Vichy. Set in a detention room in southern France as the Nazis are taking command and searching for Jews, men are sitting and talking and wondering in this dangerous situation. It is one of the most exciting theatrical experiences in town.
What a cast! Not a weak link; not only do they look the parts, they are the parts they play. Fascinating moral issues are explored in an examination of the psychology of trapped people (and their trappers), some of whom accept the reality of their fate (death) and some deny the possibility.
The drab set by Scott Bradley, giving hints of what is going on in the interior interrogation room is exceptional, as is the subtle lighting by Mary Louise Geiger, the perfect costumes by David Toser and sound design by Jill BC du Boff. The play really explores the inner nature, the sub-depths of humans under stress, the disparate reactions, the core of their natures (with combinations of human and barbaric) ripped open and revealed.
Once again the best play-reading group in town, The Actors Company Theater, bring us a powerful, fully-realized production of a masterpiece that is at the very top of the theater on view in our city.