By Eva Trieger
SAN DIEGO — The Old Globe used an innovative setting for the world premiere of Anna Ziegler’s The Last Match, which opened at Balboa Park’s Sheryl and Harvey White Theater February 18th. This superbly acted play centered on the US Open, but had little to do with tennis and everything to do with life.
The theater in the round provided the perfect venue for watching the volley of witty lines and provided excellent viewing of the wide range of emotions on actors’ faces as they struggled with internal demons and external events. The young Russian tennis star, Sergei Sergeyev (Alex Mickiewicz) is facing his idol, the older American superstar, Tim Porter (Patrick J.Adams) in the semifinals.
Tim Porter is the all-American golden boy: incredible tennis player, confident, smiling, an excellent sportsman and devoted husband to Mallory (Troian Bellisario), his wife (and real life fiancee) who has given up her own tennis career to train athletes and become a mom.
Sergei is stormy, volatile and explosive. He is wracked with self-doubt, unbridled frustration and harangued by his girlfriend, Galena (Natalia Payne), who alternately insults him and cheers him on. While he seems the polar opposite of Tim with his dark looks and bitter words, the two men are nearly identical in the core element of this play. They both lack family and the sense of immortality that comes from being part of a group larger than yourself.
The play has been described as “funny,” but this critic cannot agree. Yes, there are funny moments, and a number of good quips, but the overriding theme is sadness, loss and fear of isolation and the ephemeral aspect of life.
Tim is beset by back issues, caused by years of unrelenting tennis playing. He experiences significant pain, but must play through. Mallory has suffered multiple miscarriages and feels her life is a waste. She fears she is “a failure at everything I do.” Sergei plays tennis because it is what he knows, but he does not enjoy it and “it is my whole life.” Finally, Galena seems a bit detached, seeking a lifestyle in place of a love. Sergei describes Galena, “She is happy but still looks as though she might kill someone.”
I was struck by the very Jewish notion of dor v’dor, of continuity and the pride of knowing one’s origin and leaving a legacy to one’s offspring. Tim is driven by the fact that his two month old son should not see him lose. Of his back he says, “fear is bigger than the pain.” Sergei, pacing the court like a caged tiger, acknowledges his loneliness. “I have no parents, siblings or children, just Galena, who will be my wife one day, and she is not always so nice to me.”
The play is tense, emotional and delivers a strong message of the importance of connection. Under the direction of Gaye Taylor Upchurch, each character is genuine and human. The authenticity in the struggle to find happiness and satisfaction is ongoing.
The dialogue is often poetic and the very creative sound team convinces the audience that we’re watching a tennis ball flow from the raquets of the players. We never see a ball, but hear the thwack of the serve or return. The creative team features Tim Huckabee, Denitsa Bilznakova, Bradley King, Bray Poor and David Huber.
Viewers are on the edge of their seats throughout the play, just as if we were sitting on the sidelines watching the semifinals on center court. The scoreboard reflects life’s wins, losses and hurdles but just as each tennis game begins, it all starts with “love.”
The Last Match runs through March 13, 2016. Tickets are available at www.TheOldGlobe.org or by phone 619.234.5623.
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Trieger is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts. She may be contacted via eva.trieger@sdjewishworld.com. Comments intended for publication in the space below must be accompanied by the letter writer’s first and last name and by his/ her city and state of residence (city and country for those outside the U.S.)