Part political thriller, part family drama, Erika Sheffer’s 2024 play “Vladimir” offers a sobering exploration of courage, cowardice and the gray areas between the two as authoritarianism encroaches upon the lives of ordinary citizens. Working with a text that otherwise could get bogged down by its own moral weight, director Lou Contey and the cast of Shattered Globe Theatre’s Midwest premiere keep the focus on “simple acts by simple people,” to quote one poignant monologue. The result is a range of rich character studies that alternately inspire admiration, sympathy and disgust.
Set in the early 2000s, President Putin’s consolidation of power and his handling of the Second Chechen War loom large in the story of protagonist Raisa “Raya” Bobrinskaya (Rebecca Jordan), an investigative journalist and war correspondent who’s recently survived an apparent assassination attempt. Undeterred, she pitches her editor, Kostya (Adam Schulmerich), with a tantalizing new story: a financial scandal that seems traceable to the Kremlin’s upper echelons.
I’m no expert in Russian history and politics, so I can’t speak much to the play’s verisimilitude, but in some ways, the specificity of the setting and premise isn’t paramount. Sheffer, an American playwright raised in Brooklyn and based in Los Angeles, wrote this play for American audiences (it was commissioned by LA’s Geffen Playhouse and premiered at Manhattan Theatre Club), and I’m inevitably viewing it from a U.S.-centric perspective.
With that in mind, it’s tempting to see the titular villain as an utterly foreign specter in a show like this, especially at a time when relations with Russia are complicated, to say the least. But it’s clear that Sheffer aims to spin a cautionary tale, drawing parallels to the here and now that are unmistakable. Plus, her most significant American character — Jim, a blustering finance bro played by Drew Schad — ends up looking pretty pathetic. So, yes, this is a play about Russia, but who’s really pointing the finger at whom?
Getting back to Raya, though, and her increasingly dangerous career. Jordan portrays this unbending woman with a dogged toughness that often frustrates her loved ones and sometimes shames those who choose a less risky path. Juliana Liscio plays her adult daughter, Galina, who naturally worries over her mother’s safety as she stresses over her own wedding plans. The two share a sweet rapport, although I’d like to see a bit more internal conflict in Raya between her familial and professional loyalties.
In contrast to redoubtable Raya, Tristan Odenkirk’s character, Yevgeny, has a beautifully developed arc. A softspoken Jewish accountant from Ukraine whose wife is expecting their first baby, Yevgeny seems an unlikely candidate for heroism when Raya asks him to help her follow the money in her corruption investigation. Odenkirk gives a nuanced, moving performance as Yevgeny struggles to find his courage. He also shows strong comedic instincts, which perhaps isn’t surprising since he’s the nephew of Berwyn-born actor Bob Odenkirk.
Other characters highlight the broad spectrum of approaches to life under an oppressive government. Kostya, who first inspired Raya’s career choice with his hard-hitting reportage, is her longtime friend and ally, as well as her editor. However, as the play progresses, he makes decisions that painfully diverge from hers. Neither a tragic hero nor wholly unsympathetic, Kostya is truly the everyman of ambivalence and self-preservation. Jim’s trajectory — talking a big game but folding when it counts — is even more disappointing, but both men challenge the viewer to wonder whether they wouldn’t do the same in their shoes.
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These varied characters and dynamic performances are supported by compelling design work. Against scenic designer Joe Schermoly’s stark, concrete-gray backdrop, Contey elevates the scene transitions to mini-vignettes, with actors in black masks wielding red flashlights as they move set pieces into place. A tense, percussive score by Christopher Kriz heightens the ominous sense of surveillance. During the regular scenes, the stage often looks sparse, with props (designed by Nga Sze Chan) kept to the bare minimum. The world these characters inhabit offers few creature comforts, aside from those they can smoke or imbibe.
Although “Vladimir” has a clear point of view, Sheffer’s play resists allowing the audience to fall into simplistic armchair moralizing. I haven’t even mentioned the most mysterious and challenging character, a young Chechen woman played by Kseniya Janyan, because her storyline is better left unspoiled. But she utters some of the play’s most damning lines, urging us to consider whose suffering we care about and what can jolt us out of apathy. When there’s so much injustice in the world, what will it take to find our own courage?
Emily McClanathan is a freelance critic.
Review: “Vladimir” (3.5 stars)
When: Through Nov. 14
Where: Shattered Globe Theatre at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave.
Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes
Tickets: $20-$60 at 773-975-8150 and SGTheatre.org