Theater Online - New York Theater Reviews

Alright class, take your seats, for you’re about to be schooled in highly-verbal wordplay.  In The York Shakespeare Company’s production of The Punishing Blow, we’re made to sharpen our pencils with logophile philosophy professor, Leslie, as he delivers a court ordered dissertation on the 82^nd most influential Jew in history, Daniel Mendoza, an 18^th century bare knuckle boxer.

As the master class progresses, we cover boxing (and his disdain for it), his wife, and his growing frustration with the projection operator, Jean.  When the lesson concludes we’re brought in close to learn the real reason for his appearance.  This talk goes like this: After an anti-Semitic tirade fueled by outrage over his wife’s suspected infidelity, the good doctor (not an MD, mind you) is smacked with the obligation to deliver the evening’s academic address.  Upon conclusion of the tutorial, we also discover that Jean is not the local AV tech, but none other than the “beloved spouse” herself, who allegedly inspired his bad behavior in the first place.

In the role of Leslie, Seth Duerr embodies a cockiness that makes you feel as though it’s the 1^st day of freshman year and you’re in way over your head.  The language is heightened, as one might expect of a tenured professor, but it is delivered with a musicality that is pleasing and rhythmically gratifying.  The staging (also created by Duerr, working hyphenate actor-director) makes good use of the entire space, which enables his lecture on Mendoza to be extremely entertaining.

While Duerr’s performance is vibrant, instances where we’re teased with the information about his wife and possible reasons for that days visit don’t always build in a meaningful way.  Side comments about his wife are sampled throughout the play, and he seems to delight in sharing the information with us.  Delighted or not however, this aspect never compounds which leaves the conclusion not quite as effective as it might be if this conversation came to a more volatile head.

Randy Cohen’s script is an intellectual patchwork of puns, trivia and etymology all delivered in a way that is good natured and invites the audience into the work.  As for the content of lecture itself, this too was incredibly compelling.  Hearing the tale of Mendoza as drafted by Cohen is worth the price of the ticket alone –and Duerr’s confident delivery is an added bonus!