by Joel Elkins

Editor’s Note:  The following review was sent in by Joel Elkins as a response to my review of The Letters, which he thought unduly harsh.  Besides the fact that this is so well considered and so well written, I thought it an interesting idea to present dueling reviews.  And Mr. Elkins has also kindly agreed to contribute more reviews to our site.  We look forward to them.

I must confess that I am a sucker for great dialogue. Dialogue which subtly develops not only the plot, but the character of the participants as well. To me, the ultimate play would occur between two actors in one long continuous scene. The audience gradually gaining insight into the characters’ lives and their relationship only from their ambagious tete-a-tete, forced to decipher meaning from their small talk, to separate the wheat from the chaff, the truth from the mere posturing.

It is for this reason that I was so besotted by The Letters, now playing at the New Place Studio Theatre in North Hollywood. The entire play consists of a single conversation in an office of the Ministry of Information in 1931 Russia between the head of the department and Anna, a low-level “editor” (whose job function is to rewrite historical documents to conform with official policy). At the beginning, the audience is as much at a loss as Anna as to the purpose of this conversation, which becomes clear, and then surprisingly less so, as the play develops.

Other people in the ministry come to life through these characters’ descriptions of them, but no more so than the truly third main character, Mother Russia herself, personified by the imposing photos of Lenin and Stalin which dominate the stage. At first merely a backdrop, as the conversation goes on, the mood of the country during the peak of Communist totalitarianism starts to assume an ever increasing role, evoking strains of Orwell’s “1984.” The Letters paints a picture of a dark, sinister place where flickers of happiness can be squelched on a whim.

However, above all, the dialogue by John W. Lowell is brilliantly written, successfully navigating between clever and a-tad-too-clever. Norman Snow is engaging as the regimented party official, fighting with all his strength not to allow any room for Doubt (a la Sister Beauvier in the play by the same name). Julia Fletcher looks and acts the part of the outwardly meek, content-to-fly-under-the-radar loyal worker, who, when forced to lose her inhibitions, not only holds her own in the little chess game her boss has created, but actually starts to take the upper hand.

Unlike Anna, however, I didn’t want the conversation to end.

The play is performed Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 pm through April 19th, 2009.

The New Place Studio Theatre is located at 10950 Peach Grove Street in North Hollywood, CA 91601, just off Vineland, one block north of the Vineland/Lankershim/Camarillo intersection in the NoHo Arts District.

Ticket prices: $20.00

Reservations online at https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/951 or by phone at (866) 811-4111.