Pearl (Di Zhu) and Evelyn (Rebecca De Mornay) share a rare placid moment.
Just what is John Patrick Shanley, a major playwright and screenwriter, doing at the Chain Theatre, a black box on the third floor of a dowdy Garment District office building? Premiering a lesser work, that’s what. Much lesser. The Pushover, his frenetic new drama, might generously be described as an exploration of good vs. evil, a character study of troubled individuals struggling to wriggle free of the personas they’ve created for themselves, or a noirish crime caper. Mostly, what’s on the small Chain stage is three romantically entangled women, arguing, acting out, and pulling power plays on one another. It’s very loud, even without miking, and while there are intimate moments and the occasional arresting snatch of Shanley dialogue, the tone seldom varies from harsh and antagonistic.
The therapist (Christopher Sutton) annoys Pearl with his focus on her white gloves.
It starts gently enough, with Pearl (Zhu Yi), a financially strapped chef about to open an Asian Fusion takeout spot on Queens Boulevard, on her first visit to a therapist (Christopher Sutton). He’s fascinated by her white gloves, something that annoys her, but then, much annoys her. Yet she’s also the titular pushover: She believes that everyone has a soul and everyone has good within her, including her two previous lovers, despite manifold evidence to the contrary.
The play flashes back to Pearl’s faded relationship with Evelyn (Rebecca De Mornay), a very tough lady who now runs an upscale New Mexico residential spa. Evelyn’s main objective is to project invulnerability and assertiveness, which she accomplishes mostly by insulting and shouting down all those around her. That includes Soochi (Christina Toth), Pearl’s business partner and more recent paramour, who has recently arrived there on Pearl’s behalf, bearing a hangdog look, a terrible haircut, and Evelyn’s wedding ring from a failed marriage.
Soochi is a piece of work. Obsessive, drugged out, a gambling addict, possibly suffering from a heart condition—but she may be lying about that—and a financial scammer, she seems invented by Shanley to give Evelyn more to rage about. How Soochi and Pearl could have been a couple is unfathomable, but then, one thing The Pushover seems to imply is, gay women really like to sleep around. Every possible romantic permutation among these three happens—even Evelyn and Soochi, with Evelyn offering such endearments as “You’re a no-good, degenerate slut”—with diminishing plausibility.
Intimacy happens, but never without an edge. Photographs by Shawn Salley Photography.
From there it’s on to treachery, deceit, a muddled murder caper, a pink gun being brandished, and characters who don’t add up. Pearl, while religious and described by all as a good person, isn’t above hatching an assassination plot. Soochi toggles between needy and devious. Evelyn—well, at least she’s consistent, consistently awful. De Mornay, Tom Cruise’s squeeze in Risky Business 43 years ago, looks terrific, moves well, and might be a compelling stage presence given more to play. But Evelyn’s relentless sarcasm and negativity grow wearying, and so do Soochi’s whining and Pearl’s uncertainty about herself and everyone around her. Under Kirk Gostkowski’s direction, Toth and Zhu both seem to be on single tracks, missing character subtleties that could make them more interesting. Sutton, at least, is a convincingly rumpled nameless therapist, and, in a brief second role as Evelyn’s toady at her spa, mines laughs just shuffling across the stage.
Not that Shanley has entirely lost his touch: The ear perks up with lines like Pearl’s assessment of Soochi to Evelyn, “She walked in through the wound you left,” or her accusation that Evelyn is wreaking revenge on her “for making you feel something.” But the dialogue is largely flat and static—and Lord, does everyone yell a lot. Jackson Berkley’s scenic design is more persuasive as Pearl’s kitchen than it is as Evelyn’s plush New Mexico retreat; Debbi Hobson’s costumes held up the curtain 35 minutes on the night I attended, having been delivered to the wrong venue. They’re OK, but they weren’t worth the wait.
One Pearl-Evelyn shouting match ends with Pearl admitting, “God, I am so turned on,” and it doesn’t convince. Nor does Pearl’s evaluation to Evelyn of Soochi, “Underneath everything she’s a beautiful person, just like you”—how could she be that deluded? Shanley is capable of great dialogue, deep psychological insights, and stories that travel in unexpected, satisfying directions. None of those qualities are in evidence here. The nadir might be Evelyn’s browbeating Soochi with, “You’re Scumzilla,” then making her whimper it back to her, “I’m Scumzilla.” Really, this is the guy who wrote Doubt?
The Pushover plays through April 26 at the Chain Theatre (312 W. 36th St., 3rd floor). Evening performances are at 7 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday; matinees are at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. For tickets and more information, visit chaintheatre.org.
Playwright: John Patrick Shanley
Director: Kirk Gostkowski
Scenic Design: Jackson Berkley
Costume Design: Debbi Hobson
Lighting Design: Dariel Garcia
Sound Design: Greg Russ
