Christian centers the talented cast of four. Whether getting drunk and succumbing to June's seduction, trading passionate readings with Henry, or casting out her prodigal father in a scene that plays like a dream sequence, she's so focused we believe every second of her portrayal. The actress's diminutive size seems to concentrate the extraordinary life force that made Nin the object of Henry's and June's affections and the literary world's fascination, not to mention energized her into keeping two husbands simultaneously for many years. (Her West Coast mate, Rupert Pole, died just days ago at the age of 87, putting Nin back in the news just in time for this production.)
As glamorously portrayed by the tall, slinky Alysia Reiner, June Miller at first overwhelms Nin with her coarse American lust for life, but Nin's own quieter animating force proves a match for both Millers. Bishins's Henry explodes on to the stage with a fiery magnetism, reminding one of John Malkovich's entrance in Burn This but also of the cocksure New York attitude of the young Bruce Willis in the TV series Moonlighting. At times he overdoes the dissonance of poetic language and street-tough machismo, but one appreciates the dangerousness of his performance as a needed foil for Nin's softer power.
Perhaps particularly in a play about writers, there is a risk of telling instead of showing, and the play's one real flaw is that Beckett partially gives in to this temptation. The middle of the story seems to drag as Nin's psychology gets explained instead of dramatized. But for the most part the elements of the play - the gritty performances, the captivating language, the outsize personalities, the beautiful rose-colored set strewn with books and bottles just screaming "I'm Paris, live in me!", the evocative lighting - make this an effective and worthwhile evening of theater.
Article comments
1 - E. James Lieberman
Good review of timely production.
For more on Otto Rank, Nin and Miller visit www.ottorank.com or look at the biography "Acts of Will:The Life and Work of Otto Rank."
2 - Howard Dratch
The play sounds fine in your effective review. I wish I could see it.
The erotic content of her writing (and of the life upon which so much of it was based) can tend to obscure her artistic accomplishment, but in the end it was her life itself that became her greatest work, making her story ripe for telling and retelling.Years ago, when we lived in upstate New York and often went to our alma mater, Bard, for lectures, concerts and films, Anais Nin came to speak. A favorite writer of my wife and something of an idol to me from her works and Henry Miller's, we anticipated a good talk.
We got a glimpse of an astoundingly beautiful woman (then in her early 70s, I think) with a presence that dominated the old gym with its empty spaces. As you wrote,
True. She was one of those people who, at any age, left her mark on all around her. After all, it is about 30 years later and I still remember her beauty and presence vividly (if not what she said).
3 - Mark Saleski
nice review jon. i loved nin's diaries about as much as her erotica...though it's difficult to compare one to the other since they're completely different animals.