The 2012 Tony nominee for best play
Venus in Fur had its regional premiere at the
Jungle Theater in 2013, and to my knowledge that's the last time we've seen it in the Twin Cities (although I did see it at the
Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona in 2018). Until now, that is. Multi-talented #TCTheater artists and friends Hope Nordquist and Kyle Weiler, who worked together on
Anything Goes at Lakeshore Players Theatre last year (Kyle directing and choreographing, Hope playing the starring role) are self-producing a limited run of this smart, funny, thorny, sexy play at The Hive Collaborative, a great space and community in which to do this sort of thing. They've enlisted fellow artists to help make this show, and the result is an extremely compelling 90 minutes - but only for three performances (the first of which was nearly sold out).
Get your ticket now for August 9 or 10 if you want to see a fantastic production of this rarely done gem of a play in an intimate (read: small) space.
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Hope Nordquist and Kyle Weiler
(photo by Junia Morrow) |
Playwright David Ives adapted the 19th century German novel
Venus im Pelz in an unconventional way (the book was written by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, after whom the latter half of the term Sado-Masochism was coined). Rather than a direct adaptation, the play is about a playwright/director who has adapted the novel and is auditioning to find an actress to play the main character, Vanda. Hence we are treated to interactions between the characters in the novel, as well as interactions between the director and auditioning actress, which start to blend together as the play goes on. The play opens with the director, Thomas, frustrated that he can't find his Vanda after a long day of auditions. In walks a woman named, coincidentally, Vanda. She's flustered and flighty, having been caught in the rain, and seems ill-prepared for the audition. But Thomas reluctantly agrees to let her audition, and the moment she starts speaking, she becomes the Vanda from the book, and it's clear that she knows more than she's let on. She convinces Thomas to read the role of Severin, a man who falls so deeply in love with Vanda that he begs to become her slave. As they interact in character and as themselves, the balance of power shifts subtly between Vanda/Vanda and Severin/Thomas, so that it's difficult to keep track of who has the upper hand. The line between fiction and reality gets blurred, and it soon becomes clear that Vanda has an agenda that goes way beyond just getting a role in a play.*
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Hope Nordquist and Kyle Weiler
(photo by Junia Morrow) |
Under director Michelle O'Neill, the play is very well paced and well staged, using all parts of the performance space at the Hive as well as the aisles. Kyle and Hope, whom I know mostly for their work in musical theater (Kyle is currently performing in
Guys and Dolls at the Chanhassen as a featured dancer), both give excellent non-musical performances as these two (or four) complex characters. Kyle is the conceited and frustrated playwright and director, transforming slowly into the character in the novel. Hope is funny and flustered as the auditioning actress, then becomes the goddess Venus with a German accent, donning yet another accent to play the Vanda of the novel (dialect coach Isa Condo-Olvera). They both play so many layers, and fearlessly throw themselves into every one. It's truly a joy to watch this tennis match between them.
The star of this set is the large multi-paned frosty window at the back of the space, lit as if from behind with changing colors and brightness. The lighting in the space also changes, particularly to demarcate scenes from the play from the reality of the rehearsal room, and the sound design gets ominous as we reach the conclusion of the play. A chaise lounge on one side of the stage hints at the 19th Century setting of the play-within-the-play, while a cluttered desk on the other side reminds us we're in the present, and a script-noted pole in the middle of the space had me thinking, "wait, I don't remember a pole at the Hive." Thomas is dressed in casual chic clothes one would expect from a director, but Vanda's costumes are unexpected and ever-changing, from leather and thigh-high boots, to a white lacy dress from the 18-whatevers. (Sound design by Tracy Jo, lighting design by Quinn Masterson.)
When I first saw this play 13 years ago I wrote, "When the lights went down at the end of the play, I had a moment of 'wait, what just happened?'" And I had that same feeling this time. This is the kind of play that's so all encompassing, it's hard to shake when you leave the theater and go back out into the boring real world. It's a very well written and complex play that isn't easy to do, but these artists have made it look easy. It deserves to have more than three performances, and hopefully it will. But for now you only have two more chances to see it, and you can follow the show on Instagram for more.
*Plot summary borrowed from my review of the Jungle's production.
