Review: Mixed Magic's Art of Attack

Games people play
By BILL RODRIGUEZ  |  September 29, 2010
Kaz-and-Serge_main
CHESS MATES Jacobs and Fraza.

Both the first and the last line we hear in Art of Attack, by Asa Merritt, is: "You must take your opponent into a deep, dark forest where two and two are five and the way out is only wide enough for one." The instruction, from one brother to another, is about chess, but when we hear it the second time, we see that it also applies to deception and betrayal.

It's an uneven production at Mixed Magic Theatre (through October 10), but the psychologically tense story comes through loud and clear, and a bravura performance by one of the three actors is certainly worth witnessing. Direction is by Jonathan Pitts-Wiley, the theater's artistic director.

Kaz (Jonathan Jacobs) and Sergei (Matt Fraza) are brothers, sons of a deceased but still-demanding chess grandmaster. At first we think that this is a friendly, if reluctant, reunion of the Ivanov brothers. But before long we see that hidden agendas by both of them will make this a far more complicated meeting.

Sergei has been summoned from Moscow. It has been 10 years since they have spoken to each other, and the unexplained reason for the feud provides a nice initial tension that is milked for a while. Kaz is blind, which Sergei hadn't known, so how he was blinded is another matter of minor suspense.

Kaz wants his brother to help him prepare for a local tournament, coming up in three weeks, which will qualify him for one in Dresden soon after. Ostensibly confident but clearly desperate, the nervous Kaz makes obvious that winning them both means everything. He's broke, so being able to pay his rent with the awards would be a relief but, more importantly, his self-esteem is on the line. Sergei says he doesn't play anymore and thought this was just going to be a re-acquaintance visit. So he books the next flight back. The entire first act is a campaign by Kaz to cajole, guilt trip, or trick his brother, who used to be the better player, into nudging a pawn forward.

The first act is titled "A Brooklyn Reunion" and the second "Preparation," so we know that Sergei will eventually give in. But the process of his change of mind is interesting to watch, and there are plenty of other uncertainties piling up to propel the narrative. Their father died of a heart attack, and they are both worried that it might be hereditary. Early on Sergei says that he wants to apologize, but is interrupted, and when we learn that the apology is for locking Kaz out of their apartment, we don't know why for a long while.

Fraza convincingly handles a lot of emotional ebb and flow as old issues come up, buttons are pushed, and their sibling rivalry plays itself out. Fraza's Sergei contains an energy that occasionally hisses out, and he eventually admits to his obsessive personality: he was a chess "addict," and that's why he stopped playing.

1  |  2  |   next >
Related: Finding her voice, Now playing — RISD: The Musical!, Moral surgery, More more >
  Topics: Theater , Entertainment, Theater, Theatre,  More more >
| More


Most Popular
ARTICLES BY BILL RODRIGUEZ
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   THE WILBURY GROUP’S MARVELOUS LUNGS  |  October 17, 2012
    If Lungs doesn't leave you out of breath, you're ready for competitive sprinting.
  •   THE GRIM REAPER LOOMS IN URI’S MARVIN’S ROOM  |  October 18, 2012
    Given a choice of laughing or crying over misfortune, blubbering isn't most people's pick.
  •   REVIEW: MALT  |  October 18, 2012
    Wisely, a new addition to the Newport dining scene is starting off modestly; it's little more than a pub, but enough more that it shows good promise and even some adventurousness. Malt opened this summer with little fanfare but soon earned a growing fan base.
  •   A HIGH-FLYING CATCH ME IF YOU CAN AT PPAC  |  October 10, 2012
    The subject and story of Catch Me If You Can sound like the flights of fancy that customarily keep musicals aloft, but it's propelled by an actual rascal and the unlikely high points of his actual career(s).
  •   UNUSUAL SOULMATES IN 2ND STORY’S THE GOAT  |  October 02, 2012
    Edward Albee has always managed to drill deeply into the human heart and not stop until he gets a gusher, never more so than in The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?

 See all articles by: BILL RODRIGUEZ