As the play opens,a man in a lab coat (Cecsarini) questions a female character (Iannone). The manis trying to get the woman to talk about certain deeds she’d committed in thepast, but she’s reluctant to do so. The friction between them is intense.Iannone regards the man and the sterile room in which she’s being questionedwith a stern, saturnine look. She doesn’t want to talk about the topic at hand,homicide, but there’s a darkness lurking beneath her surface that lets us knowshe could do it again. By contrast, Cecsarini’s protagonist seems rather calmand patient. His genuine concern for the woman is more than enough to draw inaudiences.
Things get moreinteresting when it’s Iannone’s turn to wear the lab coat. Here Cecsarini isplaying the Jason end of the Jason/Medea story. He’s an aggressive adventurerwho looks at the challenge of leaving Purgatory as a contest. It’s a brilliant,energetic performance that cleverly shades the final moments of the play withthe full realization of what’s going on.
The explosiveending may feel a bit cheap next to all of the intricate intensity leading upto it, but Iannone and Cecsarini do a magnificent job of holding together thisfantastic drama all the way to the final bow.
Next Act’s Purgatorio runs through Feb. 21 at theOff-Broadway Theatre.