The two-man play by David Rush is about the real-life collaboration between painter Jamie Wyeth and dancer Rudolf Nureyev
In his new two-man play "Nureyev's Eyes," running now at New Brunswick's George Street Playhouse, David Rush finds in the tenuous union of two great artists a window into the anxieties that dog art at its heels, at times motivating great achievements, and at others paralyzing productivity.
It is a delicate play that examines how fear inserts itself unapologetically into the world of art, demanding to be reconciled before anything great can be produced.
Rush's play is a fictional account of a real-life collaboration between legendary ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev (Bill Dawes) and the painter Jamie Wyeth (William Connell).
In 1977, Wyeth began a series of portraits of Nureyev, a project that would span a number of years and countless sessions. Sometimes Nureyev would pose in Wyeth's studio; sometimes Wyeth would sit in the wings as Nureyev danced; sometimes the two would chat in Nureyev's dressing room; always Wyeth would sketch, capturing different angles, different expressions, and ultimately a variety of inroads to the complex personality of the Russian dancer.
Over the course of their many hours together, the two men became friends, which is the aspect of their collaboration that Rush's play finds most fascinating. Nureyev's initial resistance to the project wanes in the face of Wyeth's insistence that he can capture the dancer's essence, but the work only really gets started once both men begin to lower their defenses.
As they tell each other everything from their favorite pieces of music to their favorite desserts, each gets closer to understanding the man across the room, and the potential of revelatory art grows.
Favorite music and desserts are fine, but sharing their deepest fears turns out to be a threshold both men would rather not cross.
"Nureyev's Eyes" opens as Wyeth stares at a blank canvas projecting his greatest fears back at him: he isn't good enough, and he will never be able to capture the enormity of his subject's depth.
The play then progresses through a series of flashbacks, as Wyeth tries to motivate himself to put paint on canvas by remembering the pivotal moments in his relationship with Nureyev. The two sit in the dancer's dressing room, or the painter's studio, or outside the painter's home, but always their conversation returns to how each struggles to clear their most profound artistic hurdles.
Director Michael Mastro shows impressive finesse in moving this brief play (90 minutes) along briskly without rushing. The set by Alexis Distler, which must evoke several different locales, is meticulously cluttered: What seems at first like a random collection of kitsch adorning the walls slowly reveals itself to be an insightful commentary on the clutter of these men's lives and minds.
Dawes and Connell both do well to show us the artists struggling to suppress their demons, occasionally succumbing to their pressure, but for the most part enjoying their time together as an escape from the pressure of audiences, critics, and their own fraught psyches.
A two-man play about artists wrestling with inner demons cannot but evoke thoughts of John Logan's wonderful "Red," which George Street produced with great success several seasons ago. "Nureyev's Eyes" is a well-crafted, thought provoking play, but it does not achieve the heights of "Red," in which Mark Rothko's tortured genius seems more organic and compelling than either character here.
Rush clearly is more concerned with the inner lives of his characters than the outer, but the play relies on techniques like soliloquies and confessional monologues to tell us bluntly what is happening in its character's minds rather than exploring the darker corners of their personalities with a more nuanced approach.
Nureyev's Eyes
The George Street Playhouse, 9 Livingston Ave, New Brunswick, through Feb. 21
Tickets: $25 - $63. Available online.
Patrick Maley may be reached at patrickjmaley@gmail.com. Find him on Twitter @PatrickJMaley. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook.