Diandra Reviews It All- Chatter Approaches The Noise Around Adulting

SYNOPSIS: Claire moves to New York. She knows this is supposed to be the best time of her life, when she’ll meet her true friends and her soulmate, but, somehow, nothing is happening. She fails to truly connect with her friends and the man she falls in love with turns out to be just another illusion. She longs for intimacy, but her life is filled with pointless events and meaningless chatter.

Playing at The Tank, Sam Kahn’s Chatter is the reason New York’s experimental scene thrives. This city, probably, has a trillion actors participating in a gazillion plays in a billion theaters splashed across the are, and, frankly, a lot of them great. We think money and grand sets build good shows. Though they help, Chatter shows that NYC’s theatre scene is iconic because it makes room for those who wish to be different.

chatter 1 (1) from Sam Kahn on Vimeo.

Film, dance, and a live band animate Claire’s transition from a twenty-something filled with hope into a thirty-something confused by regret. Roxanna Kadyrova plays Claire with a bright-eyed optimism that slowly dims as the 90 minute play progresses. She is surrounded by “friends” like Whitney Harris’ cold, calculated Deborah; whom defines her happiness by capping others’ joy. In addition, there is Stacey Weckstein’s tragic Mary Ellen; whose constant diminishing by others makes her a tale of how kindness is confused for dim-wittedness. Yet, all three of these ladies are their own displays of Millennial depression.

Written by Sam Kahn, a novelist with over 29 plays to his name, and directed by Alexandra Dashevskaya, Chatter shows there is a LOT of noise surrounding adulthood but there is not enough meaning. What does it mean to grow up and know who you are? Even those questions seem blanketed by a mystery that cannot be instantly or clearly solved. This explains why Claire, Mary Ellen, and Deborah seesaw in their love and hate for themselves and each other. Add on the heaviness of falling in love, and Sam Kahn has created a play that explains why “adulting” can be emotionally wrecking.

Chatter Faces Video from Sam Kahn on Vimeo.

Derek Stratton plays Blake. He is a wealthy, successful young man who transitions into an older, successful man, but both are equally empty. He can charm a woman, particularly Claire, with his bursts of thoughtfulness, but his consistent selfishness and inability to see his own flaws and cruelty destroys her. Claire and Blake’s relationship leaps out in the play because their scenes are the ones that most incorporate dance and cinema; elaborating that life is too hard to be ill-accompanied. Every time Claire justifies loving Blake over loving herself, you want to squint, but, luckily, Stratton and Kadyrova are dynamic enough in their chemistry to make you understand such choices.

There is so much to unpack in Chatter. Its dialogue feels like a Socratic, philosophical blend of Gilmore Girls meets Frances Ha; line after line is spewed, without stop, to strike either your wit or wisdom. Moreover, the constant interludes of music, breaks, and usage of lighting as a side narrator, gives you a wealth of imagination in replacement to a simple, minimalist set. Instead, you invest in the words and motions of a group of people whom assume your twenties are the best of times and your thirties are your stablest, but quickly realize neither is true. Age does not bring clarity, security, or joy, but experiences can give you a higher meaning.After breakdowns and breakthroughs, by the end of Chatter, the audience and Claire witness life is a solo trip that, through time, teaches you how to better traverse its roads and choose wiser company. It could explain why the people Claire loved at 28 are not the ones she loves at 38.