A world premiere by out-actor extraordinaire John Kuntz (very moving in the uneven play "The Whale" last season at the BCA) and a modern classic by Brian Friel are addressing the march of history and human connection in very different ways. Kuntz's "The Annotated History of the American Muskrat takes its cues from Native American creation myths in which a muskrat creates earth from mud and turns the rodent into a wide-ranging metaphor. Friel's "Translations" focuses on a linguistic invasion by which English officers to Anglicize the names of Irish towns-a transformation with cautionary implications for the soul of any nation.
Both plays contain witty scenes and telling insights but only Friel's reaches a real dramatic epiphany. If both productions feature sharp direction and strong ensemble efforts, "Muskrat" ends up with a lot of high-energy perspiration but far less inspiration than "Translations."
During a staging that stretches three hours including two intermissions, "Muskrat" makes great demands on eight very talented and versatile actors. Opening side-by-side in simple beds facing the audience in the space behind the Wimberly Theatre at the Calderwood Pavilion, five young men and four young women smoothly move from Native Americans and Pilgrims to Presidents and their wives, characters in the Alfred Hitchcock classic "Rebecca,"the Captain and Tenille covering the 1972 Willis Alan Ramsey hit "Muskrat Love" and everyday people. The appearance of what may be the counseling ghosts of first ladies may call to mind Prior's admonishing ancestors in "Angels in America," though Tony Kushner makes more substantive points. Concerns about life becoming an experimental study with 24/7 lack of privacy smacks of the nightmare existence warned about in the "The Truman Show," a film with more haunting enlightenment about human identity.
Does Kuntz mean to call attention to the similar adaptability of muskrats and human beings? Does he mean to defend animals against exploitation by people? Does he want audience members to be troubled to action by stunningly abrupt switches to stretches pinpointing the impact of legal double standards regarding the poor and America's minorities? All of these considerations receive their respective hearings in "Muskrat," but ultimately the play needs more envelope-pushing moments- for example, a Wall Street satire with muskrats looking like stockbrokers and bankers. At the same time, Kuntz needs to seriously trim his multi-episode play to give the image of the muskrat more power and the odyssey of muskrat-like humans more punch.
Even so, director Fox makes the play seem better with a clever staging. The beds of Adam Wyron's smartly spare scenic design become at turns doors and large containers from which the First Ladies emerge. Fox's own sound design -complete with sometimes eerie effects and punctuating gun shots- and Christopher Annas-Lee's shadow-rich lighting enhance the up-down fortunes of the show's musrkats and humans.
Most of all, the show's quick-moving octet are spectacular. Sam Bell-Gurwitz brings touching vulnerability to lost soul George, while Justin Phillips has the right elusiveness as his married lover. Philips is also a hoot as Pat Nixon, while Allison Smith proves properly feisty as Betty Ford and flashy as Tony Tenille. Anna Nemetz and Simon Henriques make rightly hotheaded revolutionaries. Alexis Scheer is equally convincing as an emotionally troubled prom date and a clinical interviewer. Standout moments are Edan Laniado's suicide hotline counseling with Gurwitz' s depressed George and especially Jared Bellot's lacerating look at pervasive anti-African American prejudice. Bellot also does well playing Gerald Ford, though Kuntz gives this so-so President too much stage time, minutes that ought to go to Clinton and probably hunting conservationist Teddy Roosevelt.
"The Annotated History of the American Muskrat," strong design and acting aside, needs more fire and less footnoting.
The Annotated History of the American Muskrat, Circuit Theatre Company, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts, through August 16. 617-933-8600 or bostontheatrescene.com
Brian Friel, in shimmering plays like "Dancing at Lughnasa," continues the high caliber level of modern Irish theater-including O'Casey and Synge-that celebrates both ethnic tradition and universal values. Bad Habits Productions, a distinctive and very talented young company, is richly capturing the poetry and the power of another Friel masterwork, the tellingly entitled "Translations." An Italian epigram speaks of translators as traitors, and British imperial efforts to change the names of towns during the play's earlier time period threaten the very heart and soul of Ireland as much as its cultural uniqueness.
Director M. Bevin O'Gara, who brought similar care to the beauty of Deaf culture in last season's IRNE and Norton Awards-winning Tribes( for SpeakEasy Stage Company), has movingly captured the tender human connections as well as the pivotal historical implications of the play's ongoing English-Irish conflict. Megan Kinneen's finely detailed scenic design balances the intimacy of gifted teacher Hugh's classics- rich classroom and sprawling tensions. P.J. Strachman's nuanced lighting evokes the precarious fortunes of citizens and soldiers alike.
Anyone who saw a much earlier memorable tour with Brian Dennehy should be very impressed with the sublime Bad Habits revival. Victor Shopov, stepping for injured Stephen Cooper just a few days ago as Hugh, is luminously majestic as the Greek and Latin-quoting mentor. Kevin Fennessy, one of the Hub's fines character actors, captures the humor and the pathos of standout student Jimmy Jack-especially as he rhapsodizes about a marriage to the goddess Athena. Matthew Barrett has all of interpreter Owen's cultural tightrope walk between his Irish roots and the demands of British officers. Out actor Greg Maraio displays terrific energy and feeling as impassioned learner Doyalty. Gillian McKay-Smith is properly feisty as Bridget, and Margaret Clark makes the most of Sarah's gradual classroom progress.
At one point, Hugh tellingly reflects, "Confusion is not an ignoble condition." In the very capable hands of O'Gara and company, that confusion actually becomes magnificent to watch.
Translations, Bad Habit Productions, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts, through August 17. 617-933-8600 or bostontheatrescene.com