Theatre Review: The Amateurs Play To God At Vineyard Theatre
When do we become individuals? When do we gain our own voice, thoughts, and feelings? Do we ever? The Amateurs embraces individualism as mass empowerment, which is a refreshing notion considering that “tribal mentality” has always divided human history. How masses unite against other masses is the basic definition of war, but The Amateurs, directed by Oliver Butler, speaks to the person seeking inner peace.
When the Black Plague strikes Medieval Europe, a troupe of actors are confronted over their choices, safety, and self-worth. Quincy Tyler Bernstine steals the show as the soft-spoken Hollis, who feels forgotten amongst the sickness and status quo of a literally ailing society. An actress for Biblical Tales, she begins to question her troupe’s newest rendition of Noah’s Ark and her role as the “not-so submissive” wife. As she transforms religious text into human analysis on faith in God and yourself, her fellow actors struggle on whether they want an identity.
Jordan Harrison has written an incredibly different play that has, what I now call the “Annihilation Effect”; where you are left not hating or loving the work before you as much as plucking it apart to witness its experience. Although 90 minutes without intermission, it can be divided into two section. Before Michael Cyril Creighton’s version of Jordan enters the stage and after. He interrupts the 14th century play to bring some 21st century analysis, and emulates the writer’s personal journey into writing this work. In essence, he tells the audience what he wants them to analyze, individualism, and it is a refreshing twist to know what someone wants from you. He scopes through his moral history and compares it to the history of art; pinpointing when he believed humanity started to represent itself more humanely. To him, The Black Plague was a major moment in human, religious, and artistic history because no longer did people want to be represented as stoic. They wanted to show their feelings, and express the thoughts that course through their minds as they stare into a canvas or lens. It makes total sense considering the Black Plague nearly wiped out Europe, and awakened in its populations a desire to be seen before they were gone.
Kyle Beltran’s Brom, Jennifer Kim’s Rona, and Thomas Jay Ryan’s Larking are the “three prayers” of the play, and have the most poignant commentary on religion. As they look to the Heavens for guidance and complete absolution from their problems, you witness why so many feel betrayed by God. Whether you believe in him or not, he has always been portrayed as a “wish-maker” of sorts. The one you turn to when you need to exit an issue, but also the one who will give you a problem if you anger him. The praise-punishment dynamic courses throughout The Amateurs, and builds Hollis as a woman/ person who no longer cares to be praising or punished. She wants to live, and cannot keep on living in fear whether her praise is good enough for Life or punishable.
Mysticism and superstitions course through The Amateurs to give its set, by David Zinn, a slight sense of magic. Yet, Butler and Harrison, are clear to show that magic is not, necessarily, about God as much as how every individual interconnects into a community. Though the acting troupe may fight and bicker; they stand by each other. From Creighton’s role of the sweet, but dim Gregory to Kim’s sardonic Rona or Greg Keller’s “eager to survive” Physic, every character is trying to connect with their life and humanity on a basic level, and, maybe, that is the most godly one. For The Amateurs, if you strip away the fear and flashiness of religion, you might find a holier spirit. The Amateurs Plays At Vineyard Theater Till March 29. Click Here To Buy Tickets. Location: 108 East 15th Street | New York, NY 10003
