Toys brings a little taste of mittel-Europe to L.A. Written by a Romanian playwright, Saviana Stanescu (now living in NYC), directed by her fellow emigre, Gabor Tompa, and acted by Julia Ubrankovics and Tunde Skovran (both of Hungarian descent), Toys is the kind of play one might see in an Eastern European avant-garde theater.
Stanescu, whose recent production credits include Ants at NJ Rep, puts two sisters—or are they two sides of the same character?—onstage and pits them against each other in a highly stylized and tightly choreographed way. Forget traditional construction, naturalistic dialogue, or a clear-cut story; Toys unfolds in surrealistic fashion, with snatches of talk, sudden screams, bizarre images. Clara and Shari have come through recent historical events in different ways: one has lived through a horrible war (triggered by religious fundamentalism) in an unnamed country; the other escaped to the USA and was spared being raped and tortured. Shari’s experience of evil collides with Clara’s blinkered innocence in a violent, life-threatening way, with reconciliation achieved only after much sturm und drang.
Ubrankovics and Skovran give tour de force performances in this short, dark play, bringing energy and passion to their roles, and working together in smooth, seamless fashion (after only three weeks of rehearsal at UCSD, where Tompa teaches directing).
