Review: Mad Horse Theatre Grapples with Life's Vagaries in LIFE SUCKS

As a sequel to producing successfully Aaron Posner's Stupid F****ing Bird, South Portland's Mad Horse Theatre company has mounted Posner's take on Chekov's Uncle Vanya, Life Sucks. Filled with colorful characters and some truly witty dialogue, Posner's new play does a fine job of bringing the Russian dramatist's story to life for a contemporary audience. One does not need to know the original to enjoy Life Sucks, but if one is a Chekov fan, the humor , allusions, and twists are all the more delicious and make one realize how truly modern Checkov was.

The play centers on six assorted, dysfunctional characters whose lives intersect during a sojourn on a country estate. Each of the characters experiences his/her own sense of disappointment, loss, longing, and a dangerous tendency to give way to the depressive mantra "life sucks." Posner's play chronicles their individual and collective journeys to try to find a way through the melancholy morass.

If there is a criticism to be levied at Posner's script, it is the length - albeit, this is derived from Chekhov himself; for contemporary audiences, one might wish for a little tightening. The other sometime jarring device is the playwright's clearly undisguised personal voice giving philosophic advice in the final scenes. The best writing comes in the two-person scenes which the actors explore with intensity.

Nick Schroeder directs (and designs set and sound) with a sure hand, integrating the several group scenes where the cast serves as a kind of chorus and engages the audience directly, and the scenes which occur within the narrative's context. He uses the black box space fluidly, creating an all black minimalist set with props supplied by Allison McCall. Corey Anderson lights the action with an arrangement of hanging single lights that suggest ghost lights and keep the ambiance murky and gloomy. Reba Askari's costumes are suitably contemporary and characterful with wonderful whimsical touches for the zany Pickles. The stage management/tech team is skillfully anchored by Lauren Stockless and Terra Fletcher.

Each of the cast members is well suited to the role and has a moment to shine. Joe Quinn effectively captures the passive helplessness and self-pity of Vanya. David Butler makes an imposing, pompous and pontificating Professor, who manages to evoke genuine pathos as well. Paul Haley is suitably jaded, yet somehow irresistible; like Ella he attracts desire and affection though he is helpless to deal with it. Phoebe Parker's Ella is credibly conflicted, a seemingly remote object of appeal who burns with inner passion. Emily Grotz has several outstanding scenes as the repressed, awkward Sonia, hopelessly in love with Dr. Aster, and as she is given a major voice in the final moments of the play, we feel an aura of compassion she brings to the role and the story. Deborah Paley is a wordily wise Babs, who seems the voice of measure and reason, though she, too, holds secrets in her heart. And finally, Janice Garnder gives a delightfully wacky performance tinged with true poignancy as the quirky misfit Pickles.

Mad Horse Theatre, under its new artistic and executive management, continues its tradition of producing thought-provoking, yet thoroughly entertaining and engaging works with a small and skilled ensemble.

Photos courtesy of Mad Horse theatre, Craig Robinson, photographer

Life Sucks runs from March 21 - April 7, 2019 at Mad horse theatre Company, 24 Mosher St., South Portland, ME