Adapted by: Kate Buckley
( from a screenplay by Nicholas E. Baehr )
At: The Next Theatre,
Noyes Cultural Arts Center,
927 Noyes St., Evanston
Tickets: $20-$25
Phone: 847-475-1875
Runs through: May 27
by Rick Reed
With Among the Thugs, The Next Theater proved they could do gripping, violent, and responsible social commentary better than just about anyone in Chicago. Now, with artistic director Kate Buckley's adaptation of the 1967 film, The Incident, Next Theater has established itself as a master of the psychology of violence, and has made hold-your-breath, unrelentingly suspenseful theater its exclusive domain.
The film The Incident introduced us to Martin Sheen, Tony Musante, and Donna Mills. Even after 35 years, the film is still something of a cult classic: its story of two drunken thugs terrorizing a subway car late at night continues to hit an emotional chord because its message about urban violence, and how we react to it, is still germane. Director Buckley has upped the emotional ante with her staged version of the story. Watching something on a screen gives one some emotional distance, no matter how harrowing the tale. But with Buckley's sure-handed direction, an ensemble of 16 fiercely talented actors, and scenic, lighting, and sound design ( by Matthew York, Jaymi Lee Smith and Lindsay Jones, respectively ) all working in tandem to produce something so in your face that you must remind yourself to breathe, The Incident becomes more than a play ... it becomes a force to be reckoned with. The immediacy of the story in Next's relatively small theater space creates an atmosphere of dread and tension that is simply unparalleled. During the afternoon I saw the play, there were gasps, screams, and even tension-relieving laughter ... all of this was taking place off the stage. Buckley and her creative team, both on the stage and behind the scenes, have created a guerilla assault on art, and we are enormously enriched by their vision and talent.
The Incident is uncompromising, and, sorry to say, extremely realistic in its views of how we deal with violence. When Artie ( Brad C. Light ) and Joe ( Daniel Brennan ) take over a late night subway car, we watch in horror ... not only at the actions of the men, who take delight in drunken sadism, but at the reactions of their victims, who, for the most part, are more concerned with escaping the malevolent eye of these two sociopaths than they are in rallying together to defeat them. The fact of the matter is: there were 14 people on the car and only two thugs. If the victims had even made the slightest attempt at unity, they could have easily subdued these two monsters.
Brad C. Light, all wired, edgy intensity as the thug Artie, and Daniel Brennan, as his far more chilling partner, Joe ( Artie is a stupid thrillseeker at heart, but Joe seethes with buried hatred and is far scarier ) lead an amazing cast that includes standouts like Steve Key, as the wounded soldier who can take only so much, Jenny McKnight as a common-sense ( and terrified ) young mother, and Jen Engstrom, as the dangerously sexually frustrated wife, Muriel. I regret that I don't have room enough to mention each cast member; Buckley has done amazing work with her troupe. She deserves credit for assembling such a talented bunch, and then for coaxing such convincing work from each of them.
I saw The Incident in its final preview performance. As I was leaving the theater, I saw the play's director near the back and approached her to give her my compliments. She asked me for some advice, some notes for improving the production. And I was stumped. I could think of absolutely nothing.
