Chekhov’s Rifle is an ambitious, fairly funny dark comedy. It has a lot of cleverness and wit, but unfortunately gets boggled down in much self-referencing and self-explanations. Overall, the reason to see it is to see the awesome Austin Pendleton who steals the show with his incredible take on the playwright he plays.

The plot revolves around a playwright, an actor and a rifle. The conceit of the show is a quote Chekhov once said: “If a gun hangs from the wall in the first act of the a play, it must fire in the last.”

The frustrated, never successful playwright, Harry Trollope, is a roommate of the dense, handsome actor Tim Hunter (played by Craig Bachmann) who is starring in his latest, critically panned show. Immediately, the conflict between them is evident. Hunter also has conflict with his girlfriend, Meg (the spirited Bridget Flanery) who he cheats on with two random girls who came to his show. The catalyst for the action is a script of Chekhov’s Rifle by Trollope, which Hunter hands to his agent (the funny George Morafetis) as his own. When his agent tells him it could make him very rich and gives him incessant accolades for it, Hunter must decide what to do.

The dialogue by Alex Ladd is very clever and also funny. There are many memorable quips, and also some good back and forth diatribes. Additionally, there are many terrific truisms about the state of theater nowadays and jibes are taken at critics especially.

Well, it is time for the critic to strike back, unfortunately. Although it has some funny moments, the script is very transparent. There is so much exposition at first, that it becomes obvious what Ladd is going for which its surprise and some of its cleverness and, when the rifle finally goes off, it is anti-climatic. The second act also meanders and needs serious tightening. The actual ending is cute, but getting there is painful. There are definitely a few superfluous scenes in the last section of the show.

The best reason to see the show is Austin Pendleton. He is outstanding. He nails every line, every monologue, and every joke. He is one of those great actors that should be much more famous than he is. The rest of the cast is adequate – some better than others. Bridget Flanery is like a fire and bursts into flames when she’s on stage, unfortunately her part is underwritten, and quite possibly instead superfluous. Jess Osuna, who plays a detective in Act Two, is also very good. He wraps around the verbosity of his part amiably.

Technically, the show is great. Nolan Haims’s direction is fluid, although the pacing drags in the second half. The set by Michele Spadaro is absolutely marvelous. She creates a New York apartment onstage – in fact two of them, one for each act making excellent use of the little space provided. The lights by Daniel Ordower & Carrie Wood cover the stage well. Finally, the sound design by Mark Corbin is phenomenal – the phones onstage actually ring! All the sounds come from the direction they should, instead of all being played through the speakers. It is truly a remarkable job done.

Overall, the show has great ambitions. It lives up to some of them, but unfortunately the plot feels way too contrived and the playwright’s actual hand is too evident. It is worth seeing for the comic lines, and mostly definitely for Austin Pendleton’s performance.

Lord Strange Troupe

The Greenwich Street Theatre

547 Greenwich Street (near Spring St)