'Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike' expresses longing for past, hope for better future

The average audience member may not expect much of the medley of elements that make up Christopher Durang's "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike"(premiered Off Broadway in 2012), now playing at the Huntington Theatre.

In the span of the performance, the audience encounters an aging movie star dressing up as Snow White, that movie star's adopted sister performing an impersonation of Dame Maggie Smith and the movie's star's brother writing a play about a lonely molecule. And yet, all of these characters triumphed on the stage, helped along by their maid (Haneefah Wood) with a penchant for foretelling impending doom, and the movie star's immature yet ripped boyfriend.

The entire play is performed in front of a single set, the childhood home of siblings Vanya (Martin Moran), Sonia (Marcia DeBonis) and Masha (Candy Buckley). When the self-absorbed Masha brings her much younger boyfriend Spike (Tyler Lansing Weaks) back to the small Pennsylvania town for a costume party, she also brings with her a slew of issues.

However, it is the genius of playwright Christopher Durang that turns a depressing plot on paper into comedic social commentary on the stage. While on the surface, the play deals with basic family relationships and the problems that can arise between siblings, it circuitously addresses themes as diverse as global warming, filial responsibility to parents and nostalgia for society before the advent of social media.

While the bickering of sisters Masha and Sonia drive the plot forward, it is only when typically level-headed Vanya, who attempts to soothe his siblings with a comically mediocre play, explodes that "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike" hits its climax. Vanya reaches his boiling point when Spike continues to text in the middle of the play, and the resulting monologue from Moran reveals a lamentation for slower days gone by, when people shared collective cultural experiences and licked stamps before placing them on envelopes.

Spike's insolence also serves to snap Masha out of her her self-centered love affair; she sends Spike packing on a bus to New York while she stays in Pennsylvania with her siblings.

The play explores a variety issues while incorporating elements of Anton Chekhov's works, creating a hilarious social commentary. Being well versed in Chekhov's works is not necessary to appreciate this play, but would allow audience members to more fully appreciate the characters, many of whom miss the slower pace and the greater personal interactivity of their youth -- both topics addressed by Vanya in his rant.

The inclusion of a Humanities Forum after the performance, an interview conducted by Huntington Dramaturg Charles Haugland and Julie A. Buckler, Professor of Slavic and Comparative Literature at Harvard University, was a welcome addendum to the show itself, providing an informal discourse of the comedy. Professor Buckler was able to provide insight into which elements of the comedy are reflected in Chekhov’s work, such as the centrality of the home, the country setting and the intrusion of visitors to interrupt the monotony of the characters’ lives.

Judging from the peals of laughter from the audience, the well-received play astutely addresses the issues of the present and insinuates that all hope may not be lost.