TOP PICK - Incident at Vichy - to April 11

Scene from Incident at Vichy – Photo By Stephen Kunken
At the Beckett Theatre, W. 42nd Street. Arthur Miller's 1964 play is gripping from the very first minutes clear through to the end, a mere 90 minutes of taut drama.
Arthur Miller's drama is about ten men, strangers to one another, who are brought in for questioning to a detention hall resembling a police station. They fret about why they were brought in, some insisting that this is just a routine check of documents, others sure that they will be sent to a labor camp, and one man has heard a rumor about ovens in Poland where people are killed. The men quarrel about politics, debating about communism and fascism, ethics, and art. Is it possible that Germans who are so reverent about music and theater could ever do acts of senseless brutality?
Above all, they argue about whether to sit tight and hope that it will pass by, or whether to take a chance and try to overpower the sole guard. Miller also shows us the sentiments of a German regular officer, SS officers, and French cooperators. We also see that the Jewish victims of discrimination practice prejudice and discriminate against a gypsy who is caught up in the same sweep. I left amazed with the economy of Miller's writing, to pack so much into a brief 90 minutes of theater.
The drama is enhanced by the direction by Scott Evans. This is an ensemble work with a very large all male cast, and I was impressed by the acting. Also, the set by Scott Bradley is quite effective. The play's short run is scheduled to end on April 11, so I suggest that you see it soon.
My husband had seen the original production in 1964 with his parents and said that he didn't understand it then. At the time, he and his parents took it to be a realistic play about the holocaust. Seen today, further away from the events, we are more inclined to see it as a moral and ethical exploration: how people react to evil events affecting themselves or their fellow man.
-- Ellen