A.R. Gurney’s play, Sylvia,
At Sharon Playhouse
By: Karen Isaacs - Sep 04, 2025
Sylvia, now at Sharon Playhouse through Sunday, Sept. 7 is one of my favorite plays. This production, however, does not fully do it justice.
A.R. Gurney’s play, Sylvia, is ostensibly about a man and a dog, but it is so much more. Gurney is one of the most underrated playwrights of the last fifty years, is too often pigeonholed because his characters are upper-class white Protestants, WASPs.
Yet, beneath the social, financial, educational, and professional status of his characters, Gurney is exploring much deeper issues.
In Sylvia, those issues include the increasing abstraction of the US economy.
Greg and Kate have a perfectly good marriage. After 22 years and with the youngest child now in college, they have moved from the suburbs to New York City. Kate is enthusiastic about her new career teaching English (and Shakespeare specifically) to inner city middle school students.
But Greg is dissatisfied with his executive career. He has been moved from manufacturing, which he liked, to sales. He went from selling a product to trading commodity futures and now to currencies. From something he could touch or imagine to something totally abstract.
Greg’s taken to leaving work early and going to the park; one day, he finds Sylvia, a stray dog, and brings her home. He is delighted by her obvious adoration. When Kate gets home, she is much less thrilled. She feels her dog days are behind her. She points out the very practical drawbacks, including their active social life.
However, Greg is not willing to give up Sylvia, who is played by a woman. He spends hours with her at the dog park and on late-night walks. He talks to her endlessly and puts her first.
She is the “other woman” that is meeting needs Kate is too busy with her new career to see.
Director Colin Hanlon and the cast don’t do anything terribly wrong, but something is missing in this production.
Gurney has specified a simple set, which scenic designers Christopher and Justin Swader have executed well. The lighting and sound designs (by Wheeler Moon and Graham Stone, respectively) are fine. The costumes by Kathleen Deagnelis are more problematic. They don’t have the Ralph Lauren/Westchester Country Club look, and Kate is downright dowdy. Sylvia’s costumes seem over-the-top.
Of the three main characters, Jonathan Walker as Greg seems to most capture the delight and angst of a middle-aged man questioning his life. Jennifer Van Dyck could have infused Kate with more dimensions; it seems she has little real affection for her husband; aggravation and annoyance predominate. Jen Cody’s Sylvia also needs to be more multi-dimensional. Some parts of the performance needs to be toned down.
Three other characters make appearances in the play – a macho guy who Greg meets at the dog park, an upper-eastside friend of Kate’s, and a therapist. Gurney specified that all should be played by the same actor. Was this to make a point or was it just to make the play more affordable for theaters to produce?
In this production, Sienna Brann plays all three. She is most successful as Phyllis, Kate’s well-to-do college friend. She’s less successful as Tom, the macho, know-it-all guy at the dog park.
Sylvia is an excellent play, being given a good, but not outstanding, production.
Yet, most audiences will enjoy it. Be aware that there is some adult language in the play.
Tickets are available at SharonPlayhouse.org