Kushner's `Slavs!' provides a solid followup to Angels

---

RATING: * * *

---

by Joanna Winters

---

Slavs! (Thinking About the Longstanding Problems of Virtue and Happiness) , which arose out of material from Angels , is an enjoyable, albeit much shorter work which examines some of the problems facing today's former Soviet republics.

The loosely knit collection of scenes focuses on various characters, including the oldest living Bolshevik, younger government and military officials, two lesbians and a young girl born mute due to radiation exposure in Siberia. The parts are well-written and concise, and the play manages to treat some heavy political themes within the framework of a giddy intellectual farce.

The action opens in March of 1985, just after the death of Chernenko, and later scenes take place in 1992 and 1995. The old Soviet regime is broadly satirized with defenses such as, "Stagnation is our only hope!" and, "To the great age of boredom!" On the other hand, the new era provokes the dismaying, "Everything is new now; everything is terrible."

One memorable scene is the opening one, in which two shabby babushkas discuss the implications of the new politico-economic state. At the approach of two government officials, they promptly metamorphose into good-natured, uneducated snow-sweeps, returning to their doctoral-level discourse once their company has disappeared.

The acting is solid throughout with particularly good performances by Annalee Jeffries (as mother of the retarded child and in two other roles) and James Black (as an old politician inspired to leap ballet-style into the new era of upheaval).

You will leave this play with neither sidestitch nor sopping handkerchief. But in an upcoming Alley season including the likes of Antony and Cleopatra , A Streetcar Named Desire and The Heiress , a nice, slow start might be just what the doctor ordered.

This item appeared in the Arts & Entertainment section of the September 22, 1995 issue.

Copyright © 1996 The Rice Thresher. All Rights Reserved.
This document may be distributed electronically, provided that it is distributed in its entirety and includes this notice. However, it cannot be reprinted without the express written permission of:
The Rice Thresher, Rice University, 6100 Main, Houston, TX 77005-1892, USA.