Wolf Play – Terrific Theater!
Wolf Play is reminiscent of revolutionary theater of the 1960s. Imaginative staging makes it seem freewheeling while in fact, the piece evolves with Machiavellian skill. Resonant ideas are so deftly braided into the galvanizing production, you may not identify them until curtain. The young, extremely talented cast vibrates with energy and focus.
Enter a theater space that at first seems raw, undressed. Stage right, is an immense wall of embedded props – think Joseph Cornell on acid, Brimfield Flea Market stuck together. A multitude of lights only some used, hang above. Rough drapes/scrims of all sizes and shapes hang from rods. Cables and ropes cascade. Tall ladders lean. Minimal furniture will later effectively serve. A rope boxing ring comes down from above on two occasions, not only for the actual bout. Characters enter from one unexpected source and exit through another.
Terrific scenic design by You-Shin Chen. Kudos also to prop designer Patricia Marjorie whose milk is something special.
Brian Quijada (Ryan), Christopher Bannow (Peter), Nicole Villamil (Robin)
“What if I said I am not what you think?” provokes Mitchell Winter/wolf dashing back and forth to both sides of the audience, up aisles and in faces. “This floor is earth. You (pointing) are an eagle soaring above our heads. You, a spider no bigger than your eyelash…What if I said you are the single most important thing in my space? (On his knees.) Would you believe me?…I am exactly what you see – an actor – paid in cash or cookies. You are exactly what you feel you are. That’s the truth. Is that the truth?…I am the wolf.” (He howls into a microphone.) A helluva beginning!
Housewife Robin (Nicole Villamil) is married to Ash (Esco Jouley), an aspiring boxer who trains with Robin’s brother Ryan (Brian Quijada) at a facility bankrolled by their mother. Robin, Ash, and Brian are close. Without consulting their wife, however, Robin has purchased a six-year old Asian American child on Yahoo. The boy’s beleaguered father Peter (Christopher Bannow) reached the end of his tether dealing with a new baby and depressed, antagonistic wife. He delivers his son with an elaborate contract, a small suitcase and a pup tent. It’s a push/pull scene.
Esco Jouley (Ash), Mitchell Winter (wolf)
Winter is/manipulates and speaks for the four-foot wood puppet in blue sneakers that is cleverly designed by Amanda Villalobos to hold a spoon and move across the floor as Rocky Balboa. The actor also occasionally narrates, soaring around the stage with exuberance.
Robin gushes and fusses. “You must be tired.” “I am a wolf,” we hear the child thinking. “Wolves are never tired. They just like to lay low at watch.” She advances, he backs up. ”Sometimes wolves will ally with other species, but it’s rare.” His behavior and attitude as explained by that of wolves, makes animal sense throughout the play. Ryan, who happens to be at his sister’s, is avidly against the idea of this unsettled, demanding stranger.
Meanwhile, the adoptee is alternately shy and physically aggressive. Realizing he’s being left, he vociferously objects, clinging to his father’s leg howling and growling. Enter Ash, furious this major move was put into effect without their knowledge. They summarily throw Peter Sr. out and will have nothing to do with the kid. When things quiet down, Robin apologizes. There’s no way she’s letting go of her ersatz progeny. The couple go in to check and discover their son has peed around his sleeping bag. “Wolves are very territorial.”
Esco Jouley (Ash)
As the child – his name turns out to be Jeenu – adjusts, it’s Ash to whom he reaches out, not Robin. When questioned on what he’s reading, it turns out to be a book about “our earth being swallowed by water…Wolves can live in the Arctic, swampland, or kitchens, but you can’t, so I’m looking for solutions,” he tells Ash. Pause. “The reason I didn’t want you to come in the first place is I didn’t know you were a wolf,” they respond.
Slowly, with astonishment on the adult’s part, a relationship develops far beyond anything they could have conceived. Robin is understandably jealous. Ash’s training/ motivation suffers greatly. An incident acts as catalyst. Ryan takes action. Ash is forced to rethink their future, but has bigger issues with which to deal. Peter is back.
Dustin Will’s direction is simply marvelous. Fluidity of narrative is mirrored in staging. Sometimes three households overlap with all characters walking and speaking (around a central table) to indicate parallel, while diametrically opposed lives. Pacing keeps this both natural and intelligible. Concept and use of the boxing ring is ingenious. Symbiosis between his manipulators (not just Winter) and the puppet creates not just articulation, but sympathy. Will’s choice of when to break the fourth wall is potent. Personalities are vivid. A reveal about mid-way is shocking. Only shadow play doesn’t quite come off.
Mitchell Winter (wolf) and Nicole Villamil (Robin)
The cast is uniformly persuasive with Mitchell Winter and Esco Jouley stand-outs. Winter moves like an athlete/dancer, looks one square in the eye, and without much adaptation ably voices first himself and then Jeenu with whom he seems at one. He’s a magnetic imperative on two feet. Jouley’s Ash broods as if at the rim of explosion. Powerful physicality of the sport seems as real as the character’s withholding. That they share the wolf’s penchant for observation is appealing to watch. As Ash discovers a buried maternal side, we feel with them.
Hansol Jung has written an entertaining, original, and poignant play brought to life by masterful direction. You may find yourselves arguing about her choice of ending. A grand evening of theater.
Understated costume design by Enver Chakartash works well.
Photos by Julieta Cervantes
Opening: Mitchell Winter/wolf
MCC Theater in collaboration with Ma-Yi Theater Company presents
Soho Rep’s Wolf Play by Hansol Jung
Directed by Dustin Wills
Through March 19, 2023
The Robet W. Wilson MCC Theater Space
511 West 52nd Street
