Theater Review: Drama offstage and on at ‘Iago’

By Madeline Schulman

Long Branch — Miraculously, the open stage at New Jersey Rep has been transformed for “Iago,” into a proscenium arch, complete with encircling lights, and a blue velvet curtain which opens to reveal a space which can be a dressing room, a rehearsal hall, a pub, or many other locations. Behind that is a red curtain, which opens to expand the stage into larger scenes, such as a country home or a whorehouse (one of the male leads has a kinky idea of date night).

Ezra Barnes, Liza Vann, and Todd Gearhart star in Iago. (SuzAnne Barabas photo)

This stagecraft is appropriate for a play about actors, acting like thespians onstage and offstage. Iago is inspired by the real life love triangle of Sir Lawrence Oliver, his wife, Vivien Leigh, and her lover, Peter Finch. The Olivier stand-in is named Anthony Roland (Ezra Barnes) but the other character’s names echo their counterparts: Vivacity Wilkes (Liza Vann) and Peter Finney (Todd Gearhart). The cast is rounded out by John FitzGibbon as the playwright/director Sir Basil Drill, based on Noel Coward.

Iago begins in 1947, as we meet Tony, the greatest English actor of the day, and his beautiful, equally famous wife, playing Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton. In their dressing room as they assure each other they were magnificent. A year ago, while touring down under, they met Peter, a rising Australian star. Peter soon arrives and is hired to play Iago to their Othello and Desdemona. Unfortunately for Tony, Peter wants to be more than Viv’s co-star, and although the lovers pride themselves on their discretion, the sharp-eyed and sharp-tongued Sir Basil assures Viv that she would have to go to Outer Mongolia to find anyone ignorant of the liaison.

Coleridge described Iago’s actions in Othello as “motiveless malignancy.” Peter strikes me as more like Eve Harrington in All About Eve, since his motives are to replace Tony in bed and perhaps on stage. He also seems attracted to Tony. Basil says there were rumors in Australia that Tony and Peter were an item, and Peter decides to play Iago as gay, leading him to a performance so camp that Basil has to remind Peter that Iago is a soldier, not a chorus girl from No, No, Nanette.

Plays about actors have a built in advantage. Playwrights know actors, and write good, believable dialog for them, and actors certainly know themselves. Ezra Barnes gives a bravura performance as Tony. Offstage, he is over the top (except in some quiet moments trying to recapture his wife’s love), and as Othello he is over the top in a different way, with more flourishes.

Liza Vann’s Viv captures the fragility of the actor’s psyche, complaining to Basil that her male co-stars get more notes than she does.

Iago is unusual in that the two acts are a series of several short scenes, some only a few minutes long. We only glimpse the characters’ lives in snatches, but we know enough to fill in what we don’t see. The structure is choppy, but SuZanne Barabas’s direction is very smooth.

Othello follows the hero from the peak of his career as soldier and lover to his lowest point. The second act of Iago has some witty dialog and laugh lines, but it is darker than the first act. Peter thinks that Iago is not a total villain, but ambition and ego, even if mixed with a desire to be liked and loved, lead to no good in Iago.

Iago can be seen at NJ Rep, 179 Broadway, Long Branch. Performances are Thursdays, Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 3 and 8 p.m.; Sundays at 2 p.m., through September 25.

For tickets call 732-229-3166 or visit www.njrep.org.