Samantha Soule and Lee Aaron Rosen in a scene from Gabriel
(Photo credit: Ari Mintz)
Although it is largely unknown in the United States, the British let the Channel Islands fall to the Nazis during World War II as they were thought to be too close to occupied France to defend them. The plot of Moira Buffini’s award-winning 1997 London play, Gabriel, now at the Atlantic Theater Company, revolves around the occupied and the occupiers of the isle of Guernsey in 1943.
Gabriel is a taut W.W. II thriller which counts on suspension of disbelief to deal with the thread of supernatural that runs through the play. It is has one of those fascinating premises that leads you to realize that ultimately neither possible ending will be completely satisfying. David Esbjornson’s direction makes the palpable tension visceral, and his casting is impeccable. However, he can’t disguise the fact that the play’s plot elements are recycled from many W.W. II thrillers. It is the unconvincing supernatural motif that sets it apart from most others.
Jeanne Becquet (played by Lisa Emery) has chosen to remain behind when the British evacuated most of the residences of Guernsey in order to safeguard her family mansion, The Hermitage, which has been in the family for many generations. The Germans have requisitioned it and she has been relegated to a small house on the estate with her rebellious 10 year old daughter Estelle (Libby Woodbridge) who panicked and ran away during the evacuation and caused her Jewish daughter-in-law Lillian (Samantha Soule) to stay behind as well. They are looked after by Mrs. Lake (Patricia Conolly), a long time family retainer.
When the play begins, Estelle is just finishing an incantation and ritual to bring her brother Myles back from the R.A.F. in order to destroy the Nazi occupiers for the crime of taking over her home and confiscating many of her personal items. Mrs. Lake is bottling black market brandy, and Lilian announces that she has found a handsome naked young man (Lee Aaron Rosen) who has washed up on the beach who needs to be taken in and nursed back to health. At this moment, Jeanne returns from an evening out with the new German officer (Zach Grenier) who has replaced the one with whom she had been having an affair. Jeanne is not averse to fraternizing with the enemy if it will keep her family safe.
And to make matters worse, Jeanne has been given the incorrect impression that Major Von Pfunz does not speak English. As a result she has revealed a great many secrets as a way of toying with him. Things become tense when Von Pfunz discovers the young man hidden in the house who has amnesia and no recollection of his name or his past. Estelle has named him “Gabriel” as if he is an angel who came in answer to her prayers.
When it is discovered that Gabriel speaks both fluent English and German both Jeanne and Von Pfunz claim him. Both a British pilot has been shot down but has not been found and a German officer has also gone missing from a torpedoed warship. Von Pfunz describes him as one of Hitler’s “bright angels,” almost the same language Estelle had used when she called upon her brother to return “like a bright angel” to save her.
Gabriel becomes a catalyst for all the characters: Jeanne hates him for the danger he brings, Lilian loves him as he resembles her husband away in the war, Estelle worships him for arriving to save them, Mrs. Lake’s maternal instinct comes to the fore, and Von Pfunz admires him as his missing soldier. When Estelle begins a campaign of silent terror against the Nazis in her grandmother’s house, and Major, who loves poetry but hates the Semitic race, begins to threaten the life of the Jewish daughter-in-law, the stakes are raised. Not so surprisingly, it is Gabriel who will be called upon to act.
Is it believable that Gabriel may be an avenging angel sent to save the British from the Nazis? If he turns out to be a British pilot or a German officer, what are the consequences of that revelation? What will happen to Gabriel when he is well enough to leave? Buffini attempts to sidestep these questions.
To some extent, Gabriel becomes the drama’s moral center: a tabula rasa on which he must imprint his new ethical beliefs in the course of the play. However, he speaks so little that his “reeducation” must be taken on faith.
The acting is of a very high level which helps to increase the tension on stage. Emery has the difficult role of the concerned mother who is also a collaborator and makes us understand her complex character. Grenier is also able to make believable the two sides of Von Pfunz’s contradictory personality. Woodbridge has the rebellious teen who fancies herself an underground resistance fighter down pat. Soule is lovely as the young wife who had only three months of marriage before her husband left for the war. As the loyal family servant of longstanding, Conolly is both crotchety and loving. In the title role, Rosen maintains his mystery and becomes what each character wants him to be.
Riccardo Hernandez’s setting is more symbolic than literal. The stage which represents a room in the Becquet cottage is sharply raked to stage left, while the set is backed by a huge concrete slab (supposedly representing the bunkers being built by the unseen Nazi prisoners) which is raked to stage right. Along with the sound of the sea which opens each act in Obadiah Eaves’ sound design, the set is disorienting but strangely adds little atmosphere. Scott Zielinski’s lighting plot also fails to create mood. On the other hand, the costumes, designed by Martin Pakledinaz, firmly anchor the play to the 1940’s.
As a thriller, Moira Buffini’s Gabriel works best. As a drama of moral choices, however, the play is not entirely convincing. However, David Esbjornson’s direction and cast keep the tension high throughout the evening.
Gabriel (through June 6)
Atlantic Theater Company at the Linda Gross Theater, 336 W. 20th Street, in Manhattan
For tickets, call 212-279-4200 or http://www.ticketcentral.com