A LAKE TOO DEEP FOR ITS OWN DIVERS

Source: www.irenasvow.com

Terri Sue “Tovah” Feldshuh is the most acclaimed artist in the cast of ten performing in Dan Gordon’s Irena’s Vow. While the play succeeds in delivering a satisfying and occasionally chilling plot, the production fails to fully comprehend the true depth of its own characters and thus realize the narrative’s full potential.
The greatest weakness in Irena’s Vow is not absence of strong characters but, rather, a lack of interpretation. Tovah Feldshuh plays Irene Gut Opdyke, a woman reminiscing to a group of students about her days in Nazi-occupied Poland. The play goes into the suffering she endures, the relationships she forms and the dozen Jewish people she tries to save from execution. Tovah Feldshuh is a talented actress, no doubt, but she both struggles with making such a drastic transition in age and fails to take the script seriously. Feldshuh’s appearance, while more akin to the older persona than the younger, is forgivable was it not for her mannerisms, which stay consistently strong and mature throughout the play and are inappropriate for a young woman scared to death. The other problem is Feldshuh constantly delivering her lines with comedic exaggeration in a script that calls for seriousness and the humor present in the irony. Such mistakes are unforgivable when the entire play revolves around one person.
Rokita and Rugemer are two other poorly realized characters and further disappoint the audience. Rokita, as he was written, wasn’t just a man of vice but a man beyond redemption. In his first speech with Rugemer it should have become clear to the audience that he isn’t just someone who agrees with the concept or believes in the concept, but one who relishes in it. He is, in the words of the protagonist, ”a true Nazi,’ something John Staniski’s dry delivery doesn’t capture. As for Rugemer, Thomas Ryan manages to capture that one half of his personality that is more akin to a strict teacher than a Nazi, but fails to capture the other half, alluded to as being “worse than Rokita.” In his confrontation with a junior soldier, Ryan should have made it obvious why Rugemer even lasted as a Nazi as long as he did, but he just comes off as angry old man, not an angry Nazi. The one exception here is Schultz, wonderfully portrayed by Steven Hauck, who just oozes likable charm. His constant play between ignorance and rebellion is truly heartwarming. The rest of the cast was never particularly developed in the writing itself, so nothing remarkable is expected of the performances.
Technically speaking, Irena’s Vow is done with a few sound effects and pictures with nothing remarkable whatsoever. Granted, there is no room for elaborate costumes or lighting, but a few more set pieces would have been welcomed.
Irena’s Vow is, ultimately, a missed opportunity. The script itself has the potential for greatness and the cast is not untalented, but the roles need to be better understood before they are portrayed.