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Andrew Oswald as Vanya, left, and Eileen Bowman as Masha in Cygnet Theatre\u2019s \u201cVanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.\u201d (Karli Cadel)<\/p>\nSince Christopher Durang\u2019s clever and funny play \u201cVanya and Sonia and\u00a0 Masha and Spike\u201d made its San Diego premiere at The Old Globe in 2014, I\u2019ve seen it three times.<\/p>\n
Never have I enjoyed it more than Cygnet Theatre\u2019s new staging, which opened Saturday as the inaugural production in The Dottie, a flexible 150-seat studio space at The Joan, the company\u2019s 5-week-old theater complex in Arts District Liberty Station.<\/p>\n
Director Anthony Methvin\u2019s snappy, hilarious and music-filled staging mines every possible nugget of humor from Durang\u2019s absurdist script, while also authentically portraying the deeper, sadder and more human moments in the lives of its characters. Methvin has also perfectly cast three of San Diego\u2019s best actors as the play\u2019s central sibling trio.<\/p>\n
Andrew Oswald as Vanya, left, and Eileen Bowman as Masha in Cygnet Theatre\u2019s \u201cVanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.\u201d (Karli Cadel)<\/p>\n
As Vanya, Andrew Oswald is subtle but deadly with his acerbic line delivery and wicked side-eyes, and he aces his character\u2019s second-act meltdown. As Sonia, the scene-stealing Shana Wride dominates almost every scene, first with comic outbursts and later with heartbreaking vulnerability. And as the fading film star Masha, Eileen Bowman is the absolute queen of comic vanity and clueless insensitivity.<\/p>\n
Also providing strong comic support are the vibrant Daisy Martinez as the fiery Greek-style prophetess Cassandra, dreamy-eyed Emma Nossal as\u00a0 aspiring ingenue Nina and high-energy Sean Brew as self-absorbed actor Spike.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not necessary to know the plays of Anton Chekhov to appreciate \u201cVanya and Sonia,\u201d but it sure makes it more fun. Chekhov mostly wrote about ennui-laden middle-class Russians trapped on their shrinking country estates. That\u2019s a good way to describe Vanya and Sonia at the opening of Durang\u2019s play.<\/p>\n
The bickering middle-age siblings have spent their lives together in a Pennsylvania country cottage, where they cared for their parents \u2014 community theater fans who named their three children for Chekhov characters \u2014 until their deaths years ago. Vanya is a closeted gay man who shuns intimacy and Sonia is a neurotic spinster who feels unnoticed and unloved.<\/p>\n
Their tedious but much-cherished daily routine is interrupted by the arrival of their eldest sister and benefactor Masha, an aging B-movie actress who sweeps into town with her much-younger lover, Spike, for a neighborhood costume party. During her brief visit, Masha also announces plans to sell the family cottage, which would put her idle siblings out on the street.<\/p>\n
Scenic designer Yi-Chien Lee has created a fairy tale-like cottage in The Dottie,\u00a0 a space with comfy seats, great sightlines and a cozy, intimate feel that\u2019s just right for this play. Curtis Mueller designed lighting, Evan Eason designed sound, Heather K. Nunn designed the highly amusing costumes and wign\/makeup designer Peter Herman created a different wig for every time Masha steps onstage.<\/p>\n
\u201cVanya\u201d is a laugh-out-loud play with kooky characters, but underneath there is real heart and sweetness in this fine production.<\/p>\n
\u2018Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike\u2019<\/p>\n
When: 7 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays; 2 and 7 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Through Nov. 9<\/p>\n
Where:\u00a0Cygnet Theatre\u2019s Dottie Studio Theatre at The Joan, 2880 Roosevelt Road, Arts District Liberty Station, San Diego<\/p>\n
Tickets:\u00a0$58 and up<\/p>\n
Phone:\u00a0619-337-1525<\/p>\n