Manhattan Theater Club offers a piercing drama on an Off-Broadway stage at City Center’s Stage I. Erika Sheffer’s Vladimir may evoke comparisons to last season’s Patriots, Peter Morgan’s harrowing drama of the rise of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and the downfall of oligarch Boris Berezovsky. But, unlike Morgan’s penetrating portrait of Russian power struggles, Sheffer keeps Putin off-stage and makes her title character a menacing, unseen monster. Like Patriots, Vladimir includes Boris Yelstin’s famous 1999 resignation as Russia’s president in favor of Putin who bathes his country in corruption and launches distracting wars.
The focus of Sheffer’s script is on independent journalists Kostya (ribald and conflicted Norbert Leo Butz) and Raya (steely and striking Francesca Faridany), and on timid bookkeeper Yevgeny (sympathetic and moving David Rosenberg) who takes a surprisingly bold stand against Putin’s rotten regime. The action takes place mostly during 2004 right after the title character has been voted in for another term in a sham election. Kostya and Raya find their voices crushed and their lives threatened as the Russian state hurtles towards autocracy. Sheffer powerfully depicts the slow, incremental acceptance of Putin’s terroristic regime, directed with an adept hand by Daniel Sullivan. The parallels between Putin and Trump are subtle but unmistakable, as are the demonization of the Chechens with that of the Palestinians.
In addition to the sterling Butz, Faridany and Rosenberg, Erin Drake, Erik Jensen, Olivia Deren Nikkanen, and Jonathan Walker offer sturdy support in multiple roles. Mark Wendland’s flexible set suggests a TV studio where Putin deceives his public with manufactured news, a striking metaphor for a dangerous administration and a warning for us Americans.
