Playwright: Brett Neveu. At: House Theatre of Chicago, 1543 W. Division. Tickets: 773-769-3832; www.thehousetheatre.com; $25. Runs through: March 5
Both the emotional journey and the storytelling seem incomplete in Odradek, an 80-minute new work that's interesting rather than appealing. The title, a vaguely Eastern-European word, comes from Franz Kafka who used it in a short story as the name of a blob-like woolly house monster.
For playwright Brett Neveu, Odradek becomes a creature composed of organic detritus living under the stairs of an Iowa house, apparently the Id Monster of Kyle, the self-destructive boy at the center of the work. The play is seen through Kyle's eyes as he appears to journey towards suicide ... or does he journey away from it as winter melts into spring? The work offers little clarity, not even as to Kyle's age, which could be 10-15. All we are given is that he's undergoing a psychic meltdown, his parents are divorced and he lives with his caring but aloof father who begins an affair with Kyle's new doctor. We never understand the basis of Kyle's severe distress. There's far too little info about Kyle's parents or their break-up several years earlier to pin it on that cliché.
Equally curious is that the creature is so benign. Odradek passively enables Kyle's efforts to maim himself but doesn't suggest these actions or have much influence on Kyle's behavior. The ties between boy and Id Monster need to be much more deeply developed if this work is to succeed.
Instead, you have only Neveu's extremely pithy dialogue and the oddities of the household. For example, Kyle and his father never use affectionate familiarities. Kyle never says "Dad" or "Father" or "Pop" and the parent never says "Son" or "Pal" or any similar word. Oddly, Dad's bedroom is downstairs but Kyle's is upstairs although Kyle chooses to sleep on the steps themselves, near Odradek's lair. What's the big deal about Upstairs? Neveu doesn't explain, although the play's penultimate action is Kyle slowly ascending the gothic staircase. Less is more, but in Odradek it's not quite enough.
Directed by master visualist Dexter Bullard, Odradek becomes a theatrical tone poem notable for style and mood rather than story or character, especially with several Grand Guignol effects thrown in. The imposing dark walls and enormous stairway designed by Collette Pollard reflect Kyle's exaggerated view (large because he's still small?) and not his Dad's view of what seems an ordinary house. Josh Schmidt contributes an atmospheric score for solo string bass which is bowed, plucked, slapped and rubbed to great effect (with electronic sampling) by Ruben Gonzalez. The performers are fine, too, especially Joey Steakley as Kyle, looking 12 years old and performing with great physical precision. Carolyn Defrin is the Doctor and David Parkes is Dad.