A pair of outstanding performances highlight and lift Jose Rivera’s latest play, Your Name Means Dream, currently on stage at TheaterWorks Hartford. The play itself has its issues, but none lie with the two terrific women holding down the fort. It is still very early in this new theatre season, but I can’t imagine seeing better acting this year.
It is the year 2050 and we are in the cluttered East Village apartment of elderly and lonely Aislin (Anne O’Sullivan). To assist and tend to her needs, Aislin’s son has arranged delivery of a home health aide robot, Stacy (Sara Koviak, remarkable). Aislin is not pleased. What begins as an odd couple comedy becomes something else in Rivera’s ambitious but ultimately thematically murky dramedy. Is this a play warning about the dangers of Artificial Intelligence, or is it a treatise on what it means to be aging, sick and alone in this complicated world? There is also much talk about whether or not Stacy is capable of feeling, but has a soul actually been installed into the machinery? The scary closing moments of act one leans into the direction of this robot being more like dear old HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey. By the end of the play, however, we are left questioning what it all really means.
What’s never in doubt, though, are the performances of O’Sullivan and Koviak. They are singular sensations and handle whatever weaknesses of the plot there are with acting at the highest level. The foul-mouthed Aislin masks her vulnerability by lashing out, at first refusing Stacy’s help. Watching her gradually come to acceptance and a kind of friendship with Stacy is beautifully played. I often complain about plays that go for cheap laughs having older characters drop f-bombs, which happens a lot during Your Name Means Dream. But even here, O’Sullivan navigates the dialogue by making it true to her character’s fighting spirit.
Koviak is a revelation in the showier role of Stacy and possesses expert physicality that is, at times, simply jaw-dropping. I loved the subtle ways that her robot started to show a soulful side and whether quoting film classics or turning cartwheels effortlessly on stage, Koviak is in constant command of her character. It’s a thing of beauty.
Misha Kachman’s polished set design has lots of nice touches, but it doesn’t really suggest the hoarder lifestyle that the playwright indicates in his program notes. More successful is the adventurous lighting and sound designs by Yichen Zhou and David Remedios which find clever and impressive ways to indicate Stacy’s inner workings. Costumer Risa Ando has fun with Aislin’s homebound clothing choices, as well as Stacy’s perfectly tailored pink uniform. In all, there is plenty to recommend at TheaterWorks right now.
Your Name Means Dream continues at TheaterWorks, 233 Pearl Street in Hartford, Connecticut through July 6. For further information and ticket reservations, call the theatre box office at 860.527.7838 or visit: www.twhartford.org.
Tom Holehan is one of the founders of the Connecticut Critics Circle, a frequent contributor to WPKN Radio’s “State of the Arts” program and the Stratford Crier and Artistic Director of Stratford’s Square One Theatre Company. He welcomes comments at: tholehan@yahoo.com. His reviews and other theatre information can be found on the Connecticut Critics Circle website: www.ctcritics.org.
Thanks, Tom. Good to know about new theater.