Travel and Fantasy in “Tarragona”

Lidia Ornero and Tom Berdik in “Tarragona”)
Photo credit: Ahvi Spindelli

“Would you like to fall in love in a foreign country?”

Ask this question of an American, and the answer is likely to be an immediate, enthusiastic, “Yes!” Many of Americans feel the slog of humdrum day-to-day lives and 9-5 jobs and yearn for something adventurous, something new. Americans fantasize about traveling to other countries, learning new things, getting swept up in other cultures, and eating, praying, and loving all along the way.

In fact, if one looks closely at American stories about travel, one might think that foreign countries – and foreign women – exist simply as filters through which Americans can find themselves.

Tarragona, written by Gary Giovannetti and playing at the Workshop Theater Company, follows the story of Greg (Tom Berdik), a man dissatisfied with his professional and personal life who begins an email correspondence with a woman named Cristina (Lidia Ornero). When he hears of an accident at her branch of the chemical company, Greg impulsively takes a trip to Tarragona, Spain to break from his routine and go on a journey of self-discovery.

The contrast between New York and Tarragona can’t be clearer. Greg’s co-workers and boss are distinctly American: friendly but dull, stuck in routines, drifting through life, unwilling to take risks. The people he meets in Tarragona are distinctly Spanish: passionate, romantic, sexual, exotic, and willing to embrace adventure and live in the moment. Scenes in New York City take place within the sometimes pleasantly boring, sometimes soul-crushing office of Graham Chemicals, complete with bare white cubicles. Scenes in Tarragona are designated with bright colors, romantic lighting, and intoxicating music. Director Elysa Marden and the production crew make a seamless transition from New York City to Tarragona, and the audience can easily see why Greg would fall in love with this new city and the people in it, but the sudden shift seems almost too good to be true, as though the city conveniently exists as a source for Greg’s inspiration.

Much like the setting, the secondary characters in the show act in convenient ways to push Greg’s personal journey forward. Cristina is the most obvious example of a thinly-drawn person who has little internal life or motivation. She’s spirited, vivacious, sexual: the perfect male fantasy of a foreign woman. She (of course) first appears on stage wearing a red dress and a flower in her hair as though she’s auditioning for a production of Carmen. She responds to Greg’s messages with pleasure even when he pours out his soul to her in a long, rambling email. As Greg, when Berdik reads his email in monologue form to the audience, he sounds passionate, heartfelt, and fundamentally decent – but Cristina, of course, is not privy to Greg’s internal monologue, has never met him, has never heard his voice. If Cristina were a real woman, I’d imagine that she would be immediately put off by the written form of Greg’s passionate speech and move the email into the “delete” box, but the plot and Greg’s personal journey require that she be charmed by his too-personal confession. Despite a lively performance by Ornero, Cristina never comes across as anything but a cipher.

Playwright Gary Giovanetti has a good ear for dialogue and the rhythms of human conversation. Most of the conversations between cast members seem organic and natural. But aside from Greg himself, the only other character who seems to have an internal life is his co-worker Nelson (played with wry humor by CK Allen), a man who is bored by his job, but tolerant of it, and speaks in technological jargon when he wants to exit conversations with his colleagues. Everyone else is either written flatly or written as a caricature, generating several amusing moments, but little realism. The production is well-paced with a strong sense of timing, and the script touches on intriguing themes about human connection and the way people let their fears hold them back, themes that should be further developed. Tarragona would be well-served if a few comical back-and-forths were shelved in favor of giving more shades to characters like Cristina and her friend Ana (played by Lori Faiella), if we saw glimpses into what make them tick other than a plot requirement to help Greg find himself.

Tarragona is playing at the Workshop Theater Company from October 4 to October 27. The Workshop Theater Company’s Main Stage Theater is located on 312 West 36th Street, 4th Floor East, between 8th and 9th Avenues.