Robert Emmet Lunney and Sam Tsoutsouvas
Photo by Ann Blackstock

Daniel Zimmerman’s lush set of Garson Kanin’s Remembering Mr. Maugham, now playing at Theater Row, quickly transports the audience to times gone by, from mid-thirties and a few decades hence. It created an expectation of comfortable and good theater. Kanin based his play on his diaries and personal notes and the action—if you can call it that—takes place between W. Somerset Maugham and Kanin, as a series of conversations, or rather, more often monologues. We hear about visits to the dentist, orgasms, the difference between stammering and stuttering (Maugham was the former, but not the latter), tuberculosis (which Maugham had twice), Gaugin, politicians and pundits, women and marriage, miscarriage, unrequited love, the Pope, Charlie Chaplin, Matisse, the antichrist, Vivien Leigh, etc, in roughly that order.

It is a night of anecdotes, unconnected by time, place or theme. And which, by the end, became disorienting and random. It starts in 1965 in Beverly Hills, then jumps to 1949 in New York, 1954 London, 1951 St. Jean-Cap Ferrat, 1953 same, 1951 same, 1949 New York, 1954 London, 1950 New York. Individually, many of the anecdotes had merit. For example, Maugham says, “Someone once criticized a ppp…picture of Matisse and said it didn’t look like a woman. And Matisse snapped, ‘It’s not supposed to be a woman, it is supposed to be a ppp…picture.’ ”

The play is worth seeing, though, if only for the performance of Sam Tsoutsouvas as Maugham. He captures the angst, thoughtfulness and stammering of Maugham in such a way that you feel is IS Maugham. When he says, “I can ttt…tell from the way you were looking at me,” or “hardly a lll…likeness, but an interesting painting,” as he struggles to bring out the particular word, you feel his pain and frustration. Robert Emmet Lunney was quite good as Kanin, but he didn’t have as much to work with, as most of his lines were explaining and interpreting Maugham right after or before he said something, such as, “Yet, there was always a soft spot somewhere in his feeling for Bennett, a sense of compassion. I wonder now if it didn’t have something to do with the fact that Bennett, too, stammered.” The best scenes were the ones where the two actually talked and had some conflict, such as when Kanin scolds Maugham for picking up smoking again, after his doctor had forbid it. “But maybe if you had stopped for three months”, says Kanin, “you never would have wanted to smoke again. Now you’ll never know.” “Don’t be a bbb…bloody bore,” says Maugham, to which Kanin replies, “You set up this context with the doctor and you beat him at it. You outsmart him, as you would in a bridge game.” “Shut up,” snaps Maugham. “But who’s the loser?” retorts Kanin. “Shut up.” Repeats Maugham, always wanting the last word. If only there had been more of such scenes, the play would have been much better.

In addition to the marvelous sets, Natalie Robin’s lighting was wonderful and the costumes, also by Zimmerman, enhanced the period-feel of the piece. The two actors were ably directed by Tony Speciale, who kept the pace and the movement quite fluid. His attention to the constant smoking and mixing of martinis, including the sounds of cigarette lighters and clinking ice cubes, brought a nice realism to the drama. Before the play began, the audience was treated to an interesting display of images of Maugham with various famous people and in locales around the world, and to songs from 1874 to 1966, in random order (according to the script). Kate Freer’s projection design and Christian Frederickson’s sound design added masterfully to this segment.

Fascinating as Maugham is as a writer, this wasn’t completely displayed in this play. But for a realistic journey back in time to hear a series of stories by a respected artist, played by someone who captures his essence, go see Remembering Mr. Maugham.

Theatre Row
410 West 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036
212-279-4200
Through March 13