Gus Kaikkonen

A Mint Theater production at the Clurman Theater, NYC, Dec-Feb 2017-2018. Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Revival of a Play 2018. Off Broadway Alliance nomination for Best Revival of a Play 2018. Newsweek: 10 Best of New York Theater in 2018. Jeremy Beck, Rebecca Brinkley, Jonathan Hogan, Ken Marks, Sandra Shipley and Jill Tanner. Set b... y Charles Morgan, Costumes by Sam Fleming, Lights by Christian DeAngelis Under Gus Kaikkonen's meticulous, understated direction, a way of life and its assumptions and ideals are overturned by a capitalism-inspired vision of individual satisfaction. The production is filled with telling details. Fanny ingratiatingly pushing a box of candy toward her mother, who coolly pushes it back; Alan entering the house inebriated and knocking over a set of fireplace tools before slumping in a chair; Nathaniel displacing his anxiety about a forthcoming confrontation by snapping at the maid. The standouts in the cast include Jonathan Hogan as Nathaniel, whose quiet manner masks a deep pleasure in the exercise of power; Sandra Shipley as Mrs. Hawthorn, who sourly denounces Fanny while greedily imagining the prospect of a wealthy son-in-law, and Jeremy Beck, whose Alan is an entitled man-boy, convinced that nothing is ever his fault. There are especially striking contributions from Emma Geer as Beatrice, who with shining eyes, informs Alan that he has an opportunity to make "a really splendid sacrifice" by wedding Fanny, and Rebecca Noelle Brinkley, whose cold-eyed skepticism scandalizes the elders. ("I'll trouble you to talk to me without swearing at me," she tells Nathaniel. "I'm not a member of the family yet.") The play's theme is neatly embodied in Charles Morgan's set design, which locates both the Hawthorns' kitchen and the Jeffcotes' breakfast room within a kind of skeletal iron gazebo structure, each of its ribs adorned with industrial gears, each scene given a mellow gaslight glow by Christian DeAngelis' lighting. It's as if the Industrial Revolution has reached out, ...Read More