Playwright: Ken Prestininzi. At: Trap Door Theatre, 1655 W. Cortland. Phone: 773-384-0494; $20. Runs through: June 19
Playwright Ken Prestininzi has billed his new play Chaste as "An Awful Comedy." Perhaps it's a preemptive move to blunt any negative criticism, but the label doesn't always fit in Trap Door Theatre's frisky world premiere ( which isn't nearly as bad as all that ) .
Chaste is loosely inspired by the historical meeting between 19th German philosopher/authors Friedrich Nietzsche ( Antonio Brunetti ) and Paul Ree ( John Kahara ) , who try to cohabit with the Russian immigrant and proto-feminist Lou Andreas-Salome ( Sarah Tolan Mee ) in a chaste intellectual threesome housing arrangement. Prestininzi dreams what might have happened if they all actually did try their experiment, which rapidly becomes a competition for the men ( particularly Nietzsche ) to take Salome's virginity.
Yet Salome turns out to be an eccentric cock-tease, and she discovers how to wield her sexuality as both a gift and an empowering weapon to influence others. Throw into the mix Nietzsche's persistently suspicious sister, Elizabeth ( Tiffany Ross with a perpetually amusing pout ) and you have a frequently absurdist sex farce as each character tries to get the best of ( or into the pants of ) the other.
Much of the fun is derived from director Kate Hendrickson's very physical and knock-about production. Hendrickson forces her actors to scramble atop and dive below the tilted triangular platforms of set designer Joseph Riley ( compounding the difficulty is Nevena Todorovic's lovely Victorian costumes ) . The fact that the men have such a difficult time gaining entry to Salome's bedroom ( yes, it's a euphemism ) is hilariously and symbolically staged via a low-lying trap door that everyone has to contort into.
The fine cast is more than game to execute Hendrickson's physical workout of a staging and to illuminate Prestininzi's farcical dialogue. As Salome, Mee is wacky perfection at playing up the striving 20-something intellectual who is also too young to really know her pull on men.
Kahara is great at showing up Ree's initial ineffectualness, while Brunetti makes a dashing Nietzsche who becomes more obsessively single-minded and debilitated as the evening goes on. And as Elizabeth, Ross is hilarious when barking orders at them all.
What's missing in the performances is a real connection to the philosophical stances that made each of their figures famous. This deficiency is also notable in Prestininzi's script, which favors cartoonish zigzags over deep psychological insights.
Compared to some of the more head-scratching European absurdist out-there fare typically produced by Trap Door Theatre, Chaste comes off as positively mainstream by comparison. That's not a criticism for this "awful comedy," but more of an endorsement for this historical fiction-turned sex farce romp.
