Playwright: Christopher Durang
At: Chemically Imbalanced Comedy at the Cornservatory, 4210 N. Lincoln
Phone: (773) 865-7731; $7
Runs through: open run; Fridays at 11
Beware of gun-toting nuns. When playwright Christopher Durang first saw Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You performed back in 1981, his themes and ideas—about the black humor and even blacker horror of Catholic education—probably seemed shocking and controversial. Riffs on the sins of abortion (wrong even in cases of rape), masturbation, homosexuality, failure to use contraceptives, and the infallibility of the pope had a daring cache and caused early audiences to break out in uncomfortable laughter, from being shocked, relieved, and in a sense, from hearing things they would never speak aloud. This once-searing look at the warped logic of Catholic dogma and its effect on children was both picketed and embraced by audiences, many of whom were the progeny of Catholic education themselves.
Now, in 2004, Sister Mary is a bit of a relic. Her ideas on sexuality and Jesus Christ seem quaint. In a post-Mel-Gibson age, her talk of the suffering of the Christ on the cross doesn't pack the power it once did. Talking about sexual misconduct is no longer the naughty surprise it once was because the Church itself has made the Sister's pronouncements moot points.
When her class on Catholicism is interrupted by four former students who want to avenge the misguided education the Sister doled out to them, she is repulsed by one's homosexuality, another's out-of-wedlock child, and yet another's two abortions. The only one she has any sympathy for is the one who became an alcoholic wife beater, because he followed the teachings of Our Lord to be fruitful and multiply.
Twenty three years ago, this was searing, shocking stuff. It is no longer. The Chemically Imbalanced Comedy troupe's attempt to resurrect the play doesn't work. They try to make it relevant by bringing it into modern times (and mentioning George Bush), but the scenario of the play and its ideas are rooted in a time when Catholic school educations flourished, a time when nuns taught, and Catholics were firmly under the hand and the spell of Vatican City. The company would have been better served by making this a period piece, which is what it has become.
The company would have been better served by several things. For one, an audience … there were only three other people in attendance the night I saw it. Comedy is a difficult enough gig, and almost impossible to pull off without the sort of communal mirth a larger audience affords. But maybe there was a reason the house was virtually empty, aside from its dated topicality: the performance itself is amateurish and stilted (although Angela McMahon, as the sister, is very, very good, in spite of the obviously pregnant belly under the robes). For example, the use of an adult in the role of a child is an unwise choice from director Kristen Williams. Perhaps casting a grown man as seven-year-old Thomas seemed inspired and it might have worked had it not been for the god-awful, ham-fisted performance by an actor billing himself as 'Layne.'
This company has potential, but they need to make better choices, both in what to put on a stage, and in how it's put there.
