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Gloucester Stage’s ‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike’ Sends Up Middle-aged Family Dysfunction

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Cast of Gloucester Stage’s ‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike’. Photos by Jason Grow

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike – By Christopher Durang; Directed by Rebecca Bradshaw.  Set Design by Kristin Loeffler; Costumes by Chelsea Kerl; Lighting Design by Anshuman Bhatia; Sound Design by Melanie Chen Cole. Presented by Gloucester Stage Company, 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, through June 23

By Mike Hoban

In the opening scene of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Gloucester Stage Company’s first offering of its 34th season, we meet Sonia (Adrianne Krstansky) and Vanya (Diego Arciniegas), having coffee in their picturesque farmhouse overlooking a pond in Buck’s County, PA. Although they are brother and sister (Sonia is adopted), they banter like an eccentric middle-aged (50s) married couple: The fire’s gone out, but they’re too indifferent to move on. Sonia has turned wallowing in self-pity into an Olympic sport, while Vanya seems more resigned to his fate. The pair has spent the last 15 years of their life taking care of their elderly, now deceased, parents. They lament not what could have been but how meaningless their lives are, particularly in contrast to their sister Masha – the B-list movie star who rose to fame as the protagonist of the wildly popular B-movie “Sexy Killer,” which she milked for four sequels.

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Morgan Maslow on ‘Vietgone,’ “You Don’t Have to go Crazy”

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Morgan Maslow discusses “Vietgone” in this video review.

On Instagram @theatermirror  YouTube: Theater Mirror

Full review embedded in the YouTube link below.

“Vietgone” – Written by Qui Nguyen. Michelle Aguillon, Director. Presented by Company One at the BCA Plaza Theatre, 539 Tremont St., Boston through May 25.

Audience member, Morgan Maslow discusses “Vietgone” in this video review, stating that the actors and producers are “trying really hard to make it good” and “it’s hard to put yourself out there.”

While recognizing that this romantic comedy about two people who meet in a refugee camp is “a very personal story,” Maslow feels that the rap songs don’t “give you too much insight into what the characters are feeling.”

“There’s not a plethora of Asian stories,” Maslow elucidates. “You don’t have to go crazy. You don’t have to put rap in it. You don’t have to have this narrative device where it goes back and forth through time. You can tell a simple story. And because it’s personal and it’s unique, it’s going to stand out and it’s going to be important.”

“Deep Themes;” Asha-Le Davis on ‘School Girls’

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Asha-Le Davis on “School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play”

On Instagram @theatermirror  YouTube: Theater Mirror

“School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play” – Written by Jocelyn Bioh. Summer L. Williams, Director. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company at the BCA Roberts Studio Theater, 539 Tremont St., Boston through May 25.

In this video review, Asha-Le Davis assesses “School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play” as “extremely well put together” and full of “important” and “deep themes.”

“It touches on thing I know that I have dealt with,” says Davis, “even here in America.” She goes on to say, “To bring that to the stage is very bold and very needed.” In her opinion, the play addresses “what is a huge problem in our society, while also adding really awesome comedic elements throughout to keep it light and keep you interested.”