An utter gap in time, Zinnie Harris’ play “The Wheel” is a captivating and mind-altering experience that leaves its viewers grasping for reality by its denouement. Directed by Steppenwolf ensemble member Tina Landau, “The Wheel” is an intense and wily series of events that never fails to keep the audience’s mind and conscience spinning wildly. As its name suggests, the essence of the work is bound up in the idea of recurrence and the cyclical nature of human depravity.
The war story is an a-temporal, almost a-spatial, look into the human condition via the genre of magical realism. Within moments of the introduction, we find that the play’s town setting in Spain has been invaded by the French and is under siege. Through a string of miscommunications, nearly all of which portray human beings as selfishly irresponsible animals, the main character Beatriz (played by Joan Allen, well known for her roles in “Nixon,” “The Crucible” and “The Contender,” for which she was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for each role) begrudgingly takes on the task of returning a child, The Girl, to her father after he is exiled from the town over a land dispute. This sends the characters on an incessant journey through hardship and warfare, through time and space.
From the very outset there is a lacking sense of time as we are introduced to Beatriz and her sister Rosa (Chaon Cross) conversing via 21st century linguistics amidst a 19th century setting. Despite the apparent time travel that the characters and audience undergo throughout the play, there is never a shift in diction or the usage of language. This linguistic stasis has the potential to immerse the audience in the story by means of its commonplace rhetoric, but it also threatens to remove the audience from the context on account of the often a-typical and unsettled discourse that is exchanged.
The Girl (Emma Gordon), as she is referred to throughout the play, speaks only one line, yet is a captivating presence as a character that is sympathized with, feared and loved interchangeably. Eightyear- old Gordon pulls off this dichotomized character with the grace and elegance of an age old actor; her stoicism and presence on a stage shared with actors long since deemed respectable and talented places her amongst these same ranks.
Beatriz, a spunky, single woman is the pillar of strength and morality in the play, though she is not without faults. Allen embodies Beatriz’s multilayered persona in all aspects: proving awkward when the text calls for it or brass and commanding if need be. Though her crassness can often make the audience forget the good she is doing, there is no doubt that Beatriz is one of few (somewhat) morally sound characters.
The artistic director Martha Lavey said, “The Wheel asks us to look at our world and examine our ethical and moral character – as a people and as individuals.” Harris and Landau do a splendid job of bringing these issues to the table. Allen and Gordon, as well as the other actors, do an equally superb job of translating these messages in a setting that serves to fuel the fire of self-inquiry.
Entirely worth its hour and 45 minute runtime, this moral and philosophical venture should not be missed.
The Wheel will run through Nov. 10 at the Steppenwolf Theater.
