Rose

Reviewed by Holly Bartges

It takes a strong actor to captivate an audience for two hours, alone on stage with only shadows and ghosts of the past to point toward.

Deborah Persoff as Rose.

Deborah Persoff does just that as Rose in Martin Sherman’s two-act play at the Mizel Center with its regional premiere. Directed by Richard Pegg, the 80-year-old Rose sits shivah on a bench after the death of a 9-year-old girl. In the process, she tells her story. A story that begins in Russia, winding through the world to Miami. A story that recaptures the pogroms, the Holocaust, her trials, tribulations, loves, romances and marriages.

On a striking and unusual set, the bench is central. That’s where the story begins and ends. On either side are crude platforms, stools, tables, and chairs bordered with a fenced backdrop. Eye catching as Pegg’s set is, through Persoff’s Rose-colored eyes, the boards disappear. Rose doesn’t just tell us what happened. She shows us. The stools. Tables and chairs and platforms become alive in her growing up years in Russia, her move to Germany because she thought it would be safe, and her trek to America. Through Persoff’s expertise, the audience sees what she sees, hears what she hears. The ghosts and shadows of her encounters and conversation take on flesh and blood form. Her stories of the past are not just stories. The audience sees them as happening as they did. Persoff crawls into the skin, heart, and soul of Rose zipping it snugly.

With effective and eerie sound designed by El Armstrong, Rose takes us on a unique historical tour of her life that could not be more vivid if she’d shown a homemade movie.

In the beginning it was bothersome that Rose didn’t walk, look, or act like an 80-year-old. Lines did not crease her face. Her movements, agile. As she moved swiftly and deliberately through the various events of her life at different times, places, and ages, the gray wig was enough. Perhaps that is what made her encounters so believable. That, and Persoff’s ability to encounter this wonderful, rich character, making Rose her own.

Act One is breathtaking with power; I have to admit I was strangely divided in Act Two. On the one hand being captivated by Persoff’s Rose. On the other hand, getting muddled in superfluous details that were difficult to care about. Persoff made me care about Rose deeply, but I found myself tuning out what appeared to be nonsensical chatter that carried out the stream of consciousness story. Sherman could well tighten Act Two to become as powerful as Act One. In spite of the dragginess of Act Two, Persoff maintained Rose’s character throughout. This was astonishing, that intent, power, and personality could be maintained in nonsensical verbiage.

This production of Rose for Everyman Theatre Company marks the beginning of a new venture with Mizel. The cooperative venture gives Everyman a permanent home. Good for Mizel. Good for Everyman.

For history, for perspective, for a life worth sharing, it would be a crime to miss this show.