Play searches for perfect love

  Craig Schwartz Photography Kevin Weisman
stars as Anatol and Merrin Dungey as Else in the play "Anatol."

By Ruvin Spivak
Daily Bruin Contributor

With the current divorce rate reaching a high of over 50
percent, looking for true love presents itself more as a demanding
challenge than a desirable search.

“Anatol,” a theatrical production running through
May 27 at the Powerhouse Theatre, deals with this idea of finding a
perfect match by portraying one man’s failed search for a
meaningful relationship, a search that is doomed due to his own
pride and over-idealized expectations. The play, set in Vienna,
follows the main character, Anatol, through a series of
relationships that get him extremely close to marriage without ever
consummating a successful union.

The premise of the play is that simple, idealized notions of the
perfect relationship can never hold in reality, especially when the
keeper of these notions doesn’t even know what he really
wants.

The main character in “Anatol,” played by Kevin
Weisman, is a wealthy bachelor plagued with self-imposed hurdles
that prevent him from committing to a number of
women. Throughout the performance, Anatol finds himself in
problematic situations with different types of partners, from
coquettes to married woman to devotees.

In two acts and seven scenes, Anatol, accompanied with his
friend Max (Ron Garcia), argue over the conventional ideas of
relationships and unions with the opposite sex.

While Anatol is a sensitive yet egocentric figure who
neurotically sentimentalizes every one of his past encounters with
a female, his friend Max is more of a charlatan. Max thinks
women are inferior and intimacy overrated. As a result of
their differing views, the two friends debate philosophically over
the needs of both men and women, and the importance of lasting
unions.

The play has a Victorian feel to it, augmented by the costumes
and set design which reflect an aristocratic European society. Yet,
the direction of the play is quite modern in its implementation.
Between each scene the theater turns dark and contemporary
confessions about relationships, which loosely parallel the scene,
can be heard from both men and women.

An interesting visual contemporary device of the set also seems
to parallel the acting on stage. Throughout the performance a dark
window in the background of the set sporadically lights up to
reveal a brief erotic performance between a woman and man.

The script of “Anatol,” by the late Arthur
Schnitzler, also gives the play a modern feel. The script’s
manipulation of time seems to span the period of a complete
relationship, from passionate infatuation to marriage, yet instead
of one woman, there are seven.

Though “Anatol” predominantly deals with
heterosexual relationships, there is an air of homosexuality from
the character Max, who seems to get in the way of many of
Anatol’s relationships because of his own attraction to his
dear friend. Living in his own idealistic world, however, Anatol
maintains ignorance to his friend’s intentions, and much like
what happens in his relationships with women, Max’s subtle
propositions remain unfulfilled.

The acting of the Buffalo Nights Theatre Company is accurate,
believable and passionate. Weisman’s portrayal of Anatol is
consistent as he embodies the restless male with murky notions
about the nature of men and women.

Max is the perfect antithesis to the nostalgic main character
with his more relaxed acting style, which matches the
character’s relaxed attitude toward monogamy and
sexuality.

The women of the play also fill their roles well, with a
particularly outstanding performance by Kara Zediker as the
character Emilie, who grovels at the feet of Anatol only to be
rejected.

Comic relief, aside from subtle sexual innuendo, comes by way of
actor Evan Arnold who plays the butt of most aristocratic plays,
the man servant. His sparse, yet potent appearances in the play
cool otherwise frustrating moments in which Anatol’s
expectations exceed reality.

In this play, viewers will not get a positive image of men or
women.  Anatol is often heartless, Max is ruthless, and the
women range from promiscuous to pathetic. An important facet,
however, is that all genders are criticized fairly and there are no
real protagonists.

Though most of the play’s several aphorisms are set from a
man’s point of view, viewers should read between the lines
and understand that anyone in the play who criticizes another is
actually criticizing him or herself.

One such example is Anatol’s attempt to prove to Max that
women are senseless. He says, “Women are a riddle to men, but
what kind of riddle would we be if they were sensible enough to
understand us.”Â In this case, what Anatol doesn’t
understand is that he himself doesn’t know the answer to his
own riddle.

Overall, “Anatol” lends useful insight into the
motives of men and women, without passing moral judgment. Judgment
is reserved for the viewer, and with a variety of characters, there
is room to form a wide range of opinions.

The only aspect of the performance that seems out of place is a
cacophonic African drumbeat that accompanies the division between
scenes. This, of course, is minor in relation to the
well-rounded performance of the actors. “Anatol” has it
all ““ sex, love, deception and absurdity.

THEATER: “Anatol” plays through May
27 at the Powerhouse Theatre located at 3116 Second St.
Performances are Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $15 with a student discount of $10, and can be
purchased by calling (310) 289-2999 or by visiting online at
www.buffalonights.org.