Place four eager young writers in the hands of a renowned literary giant, and the results can be deeply rewarding or plain destructive. Not many actors can intimidate as brilliantly as Alan Rickman. Here he plays Leonard, an acclaimed author, in a biting new work at the Golden Theatre, Seminar,by Theresa Rebeck.
Leonard uses abrasive criticism and icy contempt as his instructional tools, and his four young students, played by Lily Rabe, Hamish Linklater, Jerry O’Connell, and Hettienne Park, are obviously on tenuous ground. As actors, they must show their mettle against Richman’s elegant stature just as their characters must protect themselves against Leonard’s arrogant, withering critiques. Fortunately, in his Broadway directing debut, Sam Gold gives Rickman and these talented actors an even playing field in a play that moves with quick wit, punctuated by moments of disquieting silence.
Seminar opens in a roomy, Upper West Side rent-controlled apartment that belongs to Kate (Lily Rabe), thanks to her privileged family. As confident as she seems, she is insecure. Kate has been close friends with Martin (Hamish Linklater), another writer, since high school, a young man with a chip on his shoulder who shares Kate’s insecurity. He is temporarily staying in Kate’s apartment because of the high cost of this seminar, $5000 while disdaining its rent-controlled status as, “socialism for the rich.”
Meeting with Kate and Martin in the apartment is a confident, sexy free-wheeling Asian, Izzy, whose ambition is to be published in New York magazine, an aim she plans to reach through any means. The pretentious Douglas (Jerry O'Connell), lets it quickly be known that his family is well-connected and he is already on his way to a literary career since he has already proven some success as a writer. All the students are fiercely protective about their novels-in-progress, uneasy about entrusting their literary souls to a literary bully with a past.
During the ten-week seminar, the students react individually to Leonard’s contemptuous assessments of their work. What is genuine and what is merely grandiose posturing is gradually revealed, and while Rebeck provides amusing lines, the revelations gradually unravel. It is basically the acting of this ensemble and the fine carving of characters and their interactions that makes this show intriguing.
The plot is predictable, but there are surprises in all the characters. Rebeck layers them skillfully. Leonard begins as a ferocious intimidator yet after ten weeks, Rickman has peeled away various layers and reveals a fully-realized man whose life has actually been far less successful. O’Connell’s Douglas eventually loses a bit of his pomposity, and Park plays Izzy with a sense of recklessness though there is a sharp strain of purpose to her ambition.
Rabe is noteworthy as Kate, who is first to feel Leonard’s corrosive blue pencil. Her instincts before threatening confrontations have always been a compulsive need to overeat. In a segment both sad and hilarious, she turns to a spoon and a bowl of raw cookie dough for comfort. Gradually, as characters show their different sides, Kate’s turn is surprising when one considers the character she has been presenting. It is Linklater, while often standing back, who subtly injects Martin with the most reality and by the end, it is Martin who is closest to Leonard in talent and temperament.
David Zinn designed Kate’s spacious family apartment set as well as Leonard’s book-cluttered retreat, a place where he can lure students, first Izzy, then Kate. Zinn also designed costumes giving the characters definitive looks.
In this comedy with its witty dialogue, Theresa Rebeck (Mauritius) offers insight into the business of writing novels and the people who devote themselves to the craft. Yet watching this cast, the veteran and the young talents, is the greatest strength of Seminar.
