“ ‘Scene Partners,’ by John J. Caswell Jr., with the transcendent Dianne Wiest as Meryl, is definitely more like whoa. Twee, snarky, meta, manic, maddening and yet eventually poignant, the play is a moving target, its tone as hard to pin down as its facts.”
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“for the most part, the show feels like a spool of film running through nothing in particular.”
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“The most disappointing aspect of ‘Scene Partners’ is the fact that Wiest, who is typically excellent, shrinks from the emotional range Meryl requires...a static performance and a fuzzy character arc for a woman who comes, sees, and conquers — even if this is only true in her own mind. After 100 lethargic minutes of Scene Partners’, it’s unlikely you’ll care one way or another.”
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“The initial conceit is tantalizing, but Caswell's play is ultimately wearisome as it spins further and further into dizzying absurdism...But even with a masterful, star performance by Dianne Wiest, lacking dramaturgically solid moorings, ‘Scene Partners’ offers a regrettably alienating experience.”
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It takes an artist of the stature and extraordinary talent of Wiest to keep Caswell’s fragmented play from flying off in all directions as it veers from reality to fantasy and from flashback to the present. Or, is the entire plot, which takes an embittered 75-year-old widow from the depths of the Midwest to the depths of Hollywood, just a figment of her yearning imagination? The tale of Meryl Kowalski (both names exuding meaning) is of the oft-told a-star-is-born genre: an unknown hopeful, through lucky breaks and gumption, manages to become a movie star. Sounds simple, right? Not here. Caswell ("Wet Brain" and "Man Cave") will not allow her story to be told in a linear fashion.
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"Caswell has crafted a truly engaging, enervating piece of theater. The performers are wily, game, and assured, even when the world of the play isn’t certain for the audience. This gifted cast weaves a wild engaging spell."
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“More than character and story this seems to be a play of message. We are our own authors it tells us...The writing here feels too clever by half. In spite of the refined direction by Rachel Chavkin and the aforementioned excellent performances all around, it is this writer’s opinion that without Dianne Wiest there would indeed be ‘nothing there’.”
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“Caswell’s sense of theatricality has to be applauded...And you’ve gotta hand it to Wiest for taking a chance on this new work. But the pieces of his collage don’t come together. The adhesive melts under the theatre’s lights and the cast is left with the droopy paper.”
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