Definitely sign up for Alan Rickman’s ‘Seminar’

Seminar, Theresa Rebeck’s often hilarious new play currently running at the Golden Theatre on Broadway, features a performance from Alan Rickman that is masterful, witty and precise. It’s one of the best performances in an otherwise ho-hum Broadway season.

Rickman plays Leonard, an accomplished writer who offers an exclusive writing seminar to a few select students. He charges $5,000 a pupil for 10 weeks of bitting criticism and unforgiving reality. I hope he’s not reading this review.

He doesn’t truly teach, at least not in the conventional sense. He’s more interested in humiliation and destruction. When Kate (Lily Rabe) reads the first line of a short story she’s been working on her entire life, he stops her in her tracks and proceeds to eviscerate her ambitions. She walks away with not much intact.

Kate’s fellow seminar students are similarly raked over the coals. Douglas (Jerry O’Connell) is seen as too conventional, and Leonard believes he’d have a successful career in Hollywood, but not in the world of fiction. Izzy (Hettienne Park) may or may not have talent, but her gorgeous looks certainly catch the eye of the instructor, much more than her words.

Martin (Hamish Linklater), a close friend of Kate’s, is the one person willing to stand up to Leonard and call him out on his seemingly useless lessons. But is this teacher completely off his rocker, or is there a hidden usefulness to his attitude and odd approach?

Seminar features some of the snappiest dialogue of any play in New York City. Thankfully, we’re in the company of decent writers, otherwise Rebeck’s turns of phrase would sound far too mechanical and manufactured. Being that Leonard is an award-winning expert in the vocabulary field, and his pupils are following in his footsteps, the quick back-and-forths make sense. There’s nothing like hearing writers fight for supremacy.

But Rebeck’s 95-minute play doesn’t simply offer up some interesting characters and witty banter. Seminar is also a clever critique of the publishing world and how many talented voices can be shot down or built up by criticism and praise. The way Leonard sees the world: Writing fiction is an exclusive rite. There are many posers, but very few expert practitioners. Of course, he counts himself as a member of the old breed, one of the few to break through the mold and make a career out of words. But this doesn’t mean he’s come out unscathed. Every few minutes, Leonard’s hard shell begins to crack, and by the play’s end we witness a broken man whose defense mechanism is to take his frustrations out on his students.

Seminar is great, and almost perfect. What holds it back a bit are the constant sexual liaisons that occur among the classmates. Leonard tries to bed the females, while Martin and Douglas attempt to work their charms. After a while, Izzy and Kate feel like pieces of meat. These plot points don’t add much to the mix and they feel like the definition of tertiary.

This play, which is the strongest new entry of the Broadway season, gains its stride when the writers think more about their output than putting out. Director Sam Gold knows this, and keeps the focus on the craft and the words.

After watching Rickman’s impressive performance, I don’t feel a need to sign up for Leonard’s seminar. His painful rolls of the eyes are too much to handle. But watching him lampoon others is oddly (and selfishly) entertaining.

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• Seminar

• Written by Theresa Rebeck

• Dirtected by Sam Gold

• Starring Alan Rickman, Lily Rabe, Jerry O’Connell, Hamish Linklater and Hettiene Park

• Currently playing at the Golden Theatre at 252 W. 45th St. in New York City. Tickets begin at $51.50.

• Running time: 95 minutes

• Rating: