There is a certain euphoria that occurs when a really well-written script and a really stellar cast come together. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you should see Ars Nova's production of Carly Mensch's NOW CIRCA THEN.
NOW CIRCA THEN follows the story of two historical re-enactors, history buff and New York native Gideon and the thoroughly modern Margie, a new-comer to the city, who work together at the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The two play Julian and Josephine Glockner, a pulled-from-the-records, real-life immigrant couple from Prussia. The tenement is their home in the New World - at the top of the play, they have just arrived and the real-life and seemingly opposite Gideon and Margie, have just met.
Through an incredibly simple, beautifully constructed plot, Mensch unfolds the relationship of the two re-enactors and their relationship to history - including their own. And that's what makes this play so enjoyable. I felt as though I was looking through a window, watching the natural progression from past to present to future. That progression is not without a little bit of sadness - moment builds upon moment, memories are disputed and ultimately the past becomes "history."
The lovely set designed by Lauren Halpern eerily echoes the real tenement museum. The cramped spaces exude practicality - every prop has its function in Gideon and Margie's act. And in an ingenious device, the playing space is constructed like a tunnel or a telescope, in a way that allows us to look upon the carnage of the past - the fallen bottles from Act I still litter the parlor floor, the iron is still upended in the kitchen - long after Gideon and Margie have moved on to the next scene. Speaking of Gideon and Margie, there is only one thing to say and that is that actors Stephen Plunkett and Maureen Sebastian outdo themselves. Their timing is pitch perfect; they effortlessly breathe life into every moment.
The play raises a lot of questions about historical re-enactment - why do we do it? Is it "authentic," or rather, what is authentic when it comes to a past we have not lived? The answers come in Gideon and Margie's abilities to reflect themselves onto their historical counterparts, and present a rich portrait of a modern relationship through married immigrant life. Early in the play, Margie asks Gideon why he is so fascinated by re-enactment (he is a veteran of the practice). This is a snippet of the conversation that follows:
GIDEON Modern times are boring. Besides, the way I see it, our generation is doomed.
MARGIE Why?
GIDEON Because we're all culturally bankrupt? We have no tangible things to pass down to our children. No artifacts. No family heirlooms. All we have is fleeting virtual moments.
MARGIE Isn't that what people said with the telegraph? That we'd all turn into robots.
GIDEON No. This is different. This is epically tragic. Think about it: We keep all of our memories out in Data Storage Centers in the Midwest. In these massive cement buildings where Microsoft and Google and Facebook back up our identities. These are the temples we're constructing.
A lesser play would stop there, letting a much trumpeted critique of modernization stand as the play's "thesis." But Mensch is smarter than that. She slyly builds her play around rich characters and through them we are led to examine not only the authenticity of our historical past, but the present-day realities of a relationship.
NOW CIRCA THEN plays at Ars Nova through October 9.
