THE END OF CIVILIZATION
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THE END OF CIVILIZATION
The play doesn't entail an-end-of-the-world holocaust, though it might feel that way to Harry (Eric Curtis Johnson) and Lily (Jaime Andrews), the middle-class couple at the nub of Canadian George F. Walker's ominously dark comedy. One of six in Walker's Motel Series of plays, it takes place against the backdrop of a national financial crisis which has left Harry -- and millions more -- jobless. The prescient Walker wrote this in late 1998. For reasons never entirely clear, Harry has opted to job search from a seedy motel room rather than from his comfortable suburban digs, which are now in danger of foreclosure. Leaving their kids with her sister, Lily has accompanied him as a show of support - but her confidence, along with the raison d'être for her entire existence - is teetering, as Harry 's behavior becomes progressively more erratic and rage-driven. Their new nightmarish existence roils out of control when two detectives (Phillip Simone and Bob Rusch) -- one of whom is obsessively fixated on Lily -- show up, suspecting Harry of having murdered three men. Keeping track of this plot is not always easy, as events are presented in non-chronological order, and it's not till the end that we become privy to the story's point of departure, from which the shattering climax ensues. Under James Sharpe's direction Johnson and Andrews display their marital torments in persuasive three dimensions. Gemma Massot is spot-on as the take-no-prisoners hooker next door while Simone and Rusch are also effective.
In SkyPilot Theatre Companyís production of ìThe End of Civilizationî at the Sidewalk Studio Theatre, too-long-out-of-work Henry voices his frustration in an anger that captures the economic zeitgeist of today, ripping a corporate titan who knows that ìthe only thing standing between him and his profits is a little human misery.î
Poor Henry, laid off a couple of years before, embodies that human misery and, as his helplessness becomes hopelessness, Henryís response to the suspension of societyís rules for normal civilization is to start killing people.
The play, written by Canadaís prolific George F. Walker, is part of his cycle of pieces that take place in one seedy suburban motel room.
With generally excellent ensemble acting, the SkyPilot group brings alive the darkly comic angst of a couple caught up in the downsizing of America.
Henry and Lily (Eric Curtis Johnson and Jaime Andrews) leave their kids with relatives, ignore their mounting late mortgage payment notices and hit the road to find him employment.
Johnson admirably captures a man rendered paranoiac and humiliated by his jobless status, alternately pleading for emotional support from his wife and belittling her efforts to help.
Lilyís Hail Mary pass at financial salvation sees her turning to the sex trade as her husband becomes increasingly alienated.
Phillipe Simon and Bob Rusch incisively portray Detectives Max and Donny, a couple of flatfoots on to Henry who are gradually drawn into the human drama and marital dynamic of the suspected killer and his wife.
When Donny realizes that Lily is an old high school crush, he pushes the boundaries of appropriate behavior. Ruschís Donny apparently has seen too much moral compromise in his work, and his confused blow-back is funny and pathetic.
Into the mix comes Gemma Massotís Sandy, a nonjudgmental prostitute with a sympathetic ear for Lilyís problems.
Everyone deals with stress differently: Henry murders, Lily hooks. When it becomes evident that Sandy is the only character onstage with any kind of moral center, you know these people are in trouble.
Walker has a great instinct for realistic dialogue that is sharply witty, but the play has a peculiar, Quentin Tarantino-esque construct, with the last scene of the play being the first scene of the story line.
Altogether, the Sidewalk Studio Theatre and SkyPilot Theatre Company once again prove that exciting drama can be found in small places.
TOLUCAN TIMES
"A devastating picture of unemployment in nightmarish proportions... the play is disturbing in nature and [offers a] cathartic release... Sharpe draws out intense emotions from his actors..." ~ By
Beth Temkin, TOLUCAN TIMES
