Theater Review: 'The Vandal'

Theater Review: 'The Vandal'

Life is short. Death is long.

Hamish Linklater tackles the unequivocal truths in his wistful but wobbly play “The Vandal.”

Since wrapping the sitcom “The New Adventures of Old Christine” in 2010, Linklater has been a frequent presence on stage â€" from “Seminar” on Broadway to “The School for Lies” downtown.

The setting for his rookie writing adventure is Kingston, N.Y. â€" specifically a bus stop within spitting distance of a cemetery, hospital and liquor store. Linklater could take the narrative anywhere. He leads it to the Twilight Zone.

The one-act follows a middle-aged widow (Deirdre O’Connell), who encounters a talkative teenager (Noah Robbins) and a gruff shopkeeper (Zach Grenier). Each has experienced painful losses and none are exactly who they say they are in this 70-minute story. It’s about the unbreakable bond between life and death and the little pleasures and huge hurts along the way.

Under the direction of Jim Simpson, the actors deliver terrific performances, especially O’Connell, who oozes lived-in believability at every moment.

Linklater has promise has a writer, including a keen ear for dialogue. His structure, a series of two-person scenes, is sound. Too bad he shoots himself in the foot with some shaky storytelling that betrays his own conceit.

Even as you leave the theater, holes in the logic start to nag. That’s dramatic vandalism.