Review: JOHN at Arts West

JOHN at ArtsWest is an enigma wrapped in a conundrum, nestled in a puzzle. The show is peppered with interesting bits of information, side stories, tangents, and seemingly pertinent details. However most of these bits only serve to fully realize the characters rather than apply to the plot. You can easily find yourself chasing meanings in references that are never explained or even mentioned again. The amount of detail and richness of backstory is amazing. The amount of unanswered questions is frustrating. JOHN is a show rich with characters and short on plot.

The story is set in Gettysburg where a young couple find themselves at a quaint bed and breakfast with a very interesting proprietor, Mertis. The house filled from top to bottom with tchotchkes, dolls, and decorations which the couple, Elias and Jenny, find both charming and amusing. For Elias, a Civil War buff, this trip is exciting. Jenny is just along for the ride, more interested in the trip as a means of reconciliation for the couple that is at a crossroads. When Jenny feels unwell and returns to the B&B early, she is invited to spend the evening with Mertis and her friend Genevieve. The ladies share bits of their lives and bond over a bottle of wine. Later a series of text messages causes Elias to give Jenny an ultimatum.

Marianne Owen as Mertis or Kitty as she likes to be called is all smiles and charm on the surface but is clearly hiding a complicated past. There are more than a few questions as to what she may be hiding. Owen does a marvelous job of directing the traffic of the emotions of others while slyly revealing shades of her own character. Sean Lally as Elias is a bundle of frustration. Unable to address the real problem at hand, he tends to blast in every direction and poke at the problem, only making it worse. He is infuriating and sympathetic all at the same time. Mi Kang as Jenny has a tough job. Her character plays the victim but in reality is the cause of many of the problems. At times it is difficult to determine if Jenny isn't honest with herself or if Kang isn't relating to both sides of her character. The scene-stealer is undoubtedly Suzy Hunt as the blind Genevieve. Her mannerisms, speech patterns, and entire aura are completely transformed into this crazy, wisecracking old woman. She breathes live into a slowly paced show and leaves you with some thought-provoking philosophical questions.

The show is three hours and fifteen minutes, performed in three acts with two intermissions. Yep, I said three hours and fifteen minutes, and no big dance break to fill some time. At the end of Act I, I felt as if I had stumbled onto a BBC show in the middle of an episode. I had no idea what it was about, but wanted to keep watching just the same. You start to feel as if there should be a prequel so that they don't have to spend so much time providing back stories. Then later you wonder if the back stories were even necessary. Playwright Annie Baker provides an abundance of real conversations and amazingly thorough character development. Unfortunately, the most interesting character are not the ones moving the plot, and you often wish the story was more about Mertis and Genevieve than Elias and Jenny. The entire show is dotted with references to the paranormal, lights that go off and on, strange bumping noises upstairs, a room that Mertis is insistent that the guests should not use. While fun additions, one never really knows what the point of adding them was. Watching JOHN is like following a trail of bread crumbs that has multiple forks in the road and most lead to dead ends.

Kudos to scenic designer Burton K. Yuen. The sets and set dressing are intricate and detailed and layered with exquisite and deliberate choices. The lighting by Ryan Dunn is choreographed nicely with the actors, but I wish more had been done to help with the angle of it possibly being a haunted house. Whether sound or staging is the cause, but one early scene is almost lost. It takes place upstairs in the B&B and no one is visible on stage. I know we are supposed to be overhearing the action, but it was difficult to make out all the dialogue. After the show comparing notes with my guest, we had caught different bits and both of us wish we had heard the entire scene as it laid the groundwork for both the main plot and the possibly haunted nature of the house. Director Erin Murray kept the show moving as well as you can with a show that runs so long. In the end, avid theater goers and fans of Hunt, Owen or Baker will enjoy the show. For newbies, this is not the best choice. Hats off to ArtsWest for tackling such an ambitious play, but everyone should choose carefully.

JOHN is playing at ArtsWest through April 7th. For more information or tickets, visit www.artswest.org.