Theater review: Magic and mayhem converge in Marin Theatre’s ‘Yaga’

Marin Theatre has kick-started the Halloween season — and its new schedule — with Kat Sandler’s incredibly inventive “Yaga,” running at the Mill Valley venue through Nov. 3.

Merging ancient Slavic folklore with a gumshoe detective yarn may seem like the height of artistic hubris, but it works beautifully in this frenetic and darkly comic tale about a semi-inept private investigator trying to get to the bottom of a missing person case. A foreboding set by Carlos Aceves establishes the mystery — a forest of driftwood and debris, bracketed stage left and right by a “motel” and a “police station” festooned with jumbled wooden chairs as if in an art school exhibit, reinforced by Kurt Landisman’s moody lighting.

Out of this forest emerges the archetypal Baba Yaga (West Marin’s Julia McNeal), the old witch of the woods, in an elaborate costume by Meg Neville. Reviled by many for her destructive nature but also revered as a bringer of renewal, Baba Yaga lives in a hut standing on “chicken legs,” flies close to the ground in an oversize mortar and reputedly eats children and drinks their blood, among other repellent acts. Yaga is a fearsome figure that over the centuries has appeared in many guises in many cultures. Elements of her mythical wrongdoing persist in contemporary legends — the nonsense embraced by QAnon believers, for example.

McNeal soon reappears as Katherine Yazov, a small-college professor of zoology and an expert in osteology (the science of bones), who gives a brief lecture on the use of deception by predators. Then we find her attempting a seduction of a goofy male student, Henry Callas (Adam KuveNiemann), about to become a missing person. Henry’s boyish allure is understandable, as is the professor’s appetite for young men. She demonstrates great skill in manipulating him. This first allusion to male fear and obsession about women clearly establishes that females rule the natural world — and the unnatural one, too.

KuveNiemann then appears as private detective Charlie Rapp, complete with de rigueur trench coat, who pesters a tough-talking cop named Carson (Rachel Clausen) about the case. The two are friendly rivals who may or may not cooperate; their mutually challenging banter creates secondary tension as the story unfolds. With that, the comedy is off and running at breakneck pace, with scenes shifting back and forth in time — including intermittent commentary from Yaga— with the three Equity actors performing the roles of 14 different characters, often with barely time to change a shirt or jacket before they’re back onstage. The pacing is amazing under director Barbara Damashek.

Tightly written and performed, the first act is an exhilarating exercise in making the implausible possible. Magical realism is one of the most potent techniques in film and theater — combining elements that, on the surface, seem to have no relationship, but that blend stunningly. This may not be an attractive feature for theatergoers expecting a linear narrative. The buzz at intermission was that many in the crowd didn’t understand the connections or couldn’t anticipate where the play was going. That’s a shame for them because “Yaga” is an inspired piece of theater.

The comedic and dramatic stakes rise as the mystery of Henry’s disappearance continues. McNeal is amazing not only as the libidinous Professor Yazov, but as her elderly mother Elena, a wheelchair-bound resident of a nursing home. She’s also convincing as the rough-hewn Gina, proprietor of a local café frequented by Rapp and Carson, and in cameos as a truck driver and sheriff. Clausen likewise shines in multiple roles — as a semi-pro boxer, an innocent student and most importantly as Anna, Katherine’s daughter and the completion of the Yazov triad.

Good and evil often come in threes — the Witches of Eastwick, for example, or Macbeth’s “Weird Sisters.” We learn that for Elena to move on to the afterlife, a replacement must be found. Charlie discovers to his regret that like the mythical handsome Ivan, he’s been seduced to donate his seed to Anna. The two of them cavort in the forest, getting blitzed on a nasty concoction from a gallon jug — one that she calls either “grandmother’s moloko” (milk) or “grandmother’s molotok” (hammer). The pronunciation isn’t clear, but “hammer” is probably correct because in the next scene he’s tied to a chair with her swinging a sledge at his head. Fortunately, he knows enough about the folktale to ask for “the horns,” which he blows to summon the firebird for rescue. All’s well that ends well, except for poor Henry.

Lance Gardner, Marin Theatre’s new executive artistic director, deserves accolades for bringing this challenging comedy to the stage. Its only drawback — other than, for some folks, plenty of rough language — is a lengthy scene in the second act between the two detectives. They banter long and hard, without propelling the plot or revealing anything new about them and their relationship.

This particular scene goes on for about 20 minutes without making any contribution to the story, but adding substantially to the nearly three-hour runtime including a 15-minute intermission. A judicious edit by the director and/or playwright would give “Yaga” a higher rating than we can justify here. For this reviewer, the show is a joy. As the standard disclaimer has it, your results may vary.

Barry Willis is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association and president of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. Contact him at barry.m.willis@gmail.com

If you go

What: “Yaga”

Where: Marin Theatre, 397 Miller Ave., Mill Valley

When: Through Nov. 3; 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays

Admission: $14 to $85

Information: 415-388-5208, marintheatre.org

Rating (out of five stars): ★★★ 1/2