Review: Pentecost

Take a story about historic art restoration, communism, and human misery, add a ton of heart, humor, hope and hubris, and you might get something approximating David Edgar’s Pentecost. The PTP/NYC (Potomac Theatre Project) revival of Edgar’s 1994 play takes the audience to an unnamed Eastern European country shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union, and never stops moving. Just when you think you know where the play is headed, the action suddenly shifts and veers off course. PTP/NYC’s production is seamless, with splendid acting — stand-outs were Tosca Giustini as energetic, saucy Gabriella Pecs, Nina Silver as Anna Jedlikova, a former dissident who has turned into a “jailer” of her people, and Mari Vial-Golden, playing Yasmin. All of these women flesh out their characters with their performances, making them as nuanced and complex as the script allows. The clever set design by Mark Evancho is another gem.