Theatre Review: The Nap Is A Quick Laugh On Family Dynamics
Manhattan Theatre Club’s The Nap’s premise is both simple and complex, but can be boiled down to one note: you can’t escape family. Ben Schnetzer plays Dylan; a good, working class guy whom is excellent at snooker. Unfortunately, his ex-drug dealing dad, Bobby (John Ellison Conlee), and con-woman mother, Stella (Johanna Day), will not allow their morally compassed, vegetarian son to thrive.
Schnetzer gives Dylan a serious kindness that surprises you when you see his contrasting parents. Dylan is sweet, smart, and eager to follow a code of dignity in life that his parents hilariously and sadly fail. This allows Schnetzer to provide a ground to the outlandishly funny direction by Daniel Sullivan and writing of Richard Bean. The Nap is 100% a comedy, but humor is always based in tragedy. Thus, there is something undeniably sad to seeing Dylan get played by the likes of his mother and Heather Lind’s charming “detective:” Eleanor Lavery.
While Eleanor falls for Dylan, at the end of the day, everyone around him loves money more. From the hilarious, gaudy manager,Tony DanLino (Max Gordon Moore) to the strange, rigid “detective” Mohammad Butt (Bhavesh Patel), there is a laundry list of characters that make you laugh at their madness, but also feel really bad for Dylan. Day’s Stella is the quintessential, hot mess and begins the conga line of persons entering Dylan’s world to use, abuse, and “play” him. You laugh at their delusions and ludicrous display of foolery because, as in life, you can’t choose your family and the people they choose as their friends.
At the end of the day, humanity is a crazy species, with each individual having perplexing particularities. Alexandra Billings’ Waxy Bush might be the most prime example of this statement. Ms. Bush is fierce and completely oblivious to proper adages and affirmations. She is glamorous, slightly terrifying, and, on speech alone, takes you aback. You will have several “Huh?” moments as she steals every scene she enters, which seems befitting considering that her character is planning to steal from the Snooker World Cup.
As I said, Dylan is surrounded by crooks, and not even Conlee’s well-meaning, but poorly mathematical Bobby, with all his reformation, can steer from a good pun and a solid bet. Each character prods and pushes the others’ buttons, which is the charm of The Nap. While not every character is in on the farce, they are all in on jokes: making fun of each other and leaving you in giggles. Though you are going to see a “heist” or “dupe” being pulled upon a sports federation and the poor kid, Dylan, trying to protect it, you find a plethora of characters that are not “good people,” but they are funny in their flaws. Thus, the two hour and 15 minute play is a reminder that no story can capture a crowd without building captivating characters.
The Nap is a total example that shows thrive on characters. You will walk away with a favorite, and a few one-liners you pray you will get to use in a conversation. Moreover, its live match of snooker is riveting; allowing the audience to really feel like they are watching a real sports event/ fraud before their eyes. The Nap plays until November 30 at the Samuel J Friedman Theater. (261 W 47th St, New York, NY 10036) Click Here To Buy Tickets.
