'The Vandal' review: Off the bench
Deirde O'Connell, left, and Credit: APZach Grenier are shown during a performance of "The Vandal," at the Flea Theatre in New York.
The TV audience knows Hamish Linklater as the witty brother from "The New Adventures of Old Christine." Theatergoers know him as a self-challenging actor with a mind so bright you can almost watch it work. In "The Vandal," we find that he is also a promising new playwright who writes characters that actors must love to play and, despite a plot that loses its way by the end, a gift for finding fresh storytelling in familiar setup.
This is a strangers-on-a-park-bench play, but the bench is at a bus stop between a hospital and a graveyard. Noah Robbins is irrepressibly charming as the teen, Deirdre O'Connell wonderfully portrays shrewd damage as the middle-aged woman and Zach Grenier fills in mysterious blanks as owner of a liquor store. The fun is a spooky plot twist, but the depth comes from unpredictably rich characters.
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The TV audience knows Hamish Linklater as the witty brother from "The New Adventures of Old Christine." Theatergoers know him as a self-challenging actor with a mind so bright you can almost watch it work. In "The Vandal," we find that he is also a promising new playwright who writes characters that actors must love to play and, despite a plot that loses its way by the end, a gift for finding fresh storytelling in familiar setup.
This is a strangers-on-a-park-bench play, but the bench is at a bus stop between a hospital and a graveyard. Noah Robbins is irrepressibly charming as the teen, Deirdre O'Connell wonderfully portrays shrewd damage as the middle-aged woman and Zach Grenier fills in mysterious blanks as owner of a liquor store. The fun is a spooky plot twist, but the depth comes from unpredictably rich characters.
WHAT "The Vandal"
WHERE The Flea Theater, 41 White St., Manhattan
INFO $45-$50; 212-352-3101; theflea.org
BOTTOM LINE Fine actors, promising Linklater