AISLE SAY New York
RUSSIAN TRANSPORT
by Erika Sheffer
Directed by Scott Elliott
A Production of The New Group
Theatre Row
Erika Sheffer's Russian
Transport, we're treated, if
that's the word, to a family of first- and second-generation Russians (adults
and kids respectively) trying to scrape by in "Little Odessa", the
middle and working class Russian section of Brighton Beach in Brooklyn. Mother
Diana (Janeane Garafolo) is a
take-no-shit realist who isn't above squashing a few of her kids' dreams if it
means keeping them safe, as she defines safety. But this doesn't prevent her
having her younger brother Boris (Morgan Spector), newly arrived from the homeland, as a
houseguest. Which you'd think would be an issue, as Boris tacitly but
unmistakably makes his living from the weakness and misfortune of others, and
there's little doubt he's tied to organized crime. It'll take him little time
to try moving in on Diana's near-college-age daughter Mira (Sarah Steele), and coopting the services of her eldest, son
Alex (Raviv Ullman) who is
vulnerable to the lure of easy money that would both line his pockets and, more
importantly, supplement the income of his father (Daniel Oreskes).
Unusually
for a New Group entry,
especially one directed by its artistic director Scott Elliott, Russian Transport doesn’t wallow in human depravity, but the nature
of Boris’s brand of felony does more than dance with the dark side of human
nature. The dilemma posed by the play is where the line gets drawn when simple
right and simple wrong have been obscured by debt, obligation, secrecy and the
threat of dire consequence. Ms. Sheffer sets up her characters and the moral
dilemmas fairly neatly and interestingly, with one very powerful surprise near
the end…but then doesn’t quite end.
With a structure that sets up some form of ultimate confrontation and
catharsis, she concludes on a somewhat ambiguous note, almost as if she doesn’t
want to know the conclusion herself.
The
night I attended, a good number of Russians were present and the ones I spoke
to looked askance at the show’s accuracy, some taking umbrage at familiar
clichés of Western perception. (The most quotable comment was: “I wish
Americans understood we’re more than gangsters and dancing bears.”) Well enough
acted and directed to hold for the evening, though. And, to borrow phrase from
S. J. Perelman, that’s something—even if it’s nothing…
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