Playwright: Isreael Horovitz
At: Theo Ubique Theatre
at the Heartland Studio
Phone: (847) 475-5998; $15
Runs through: Oct. 12
The 1960's Off-off-Broadway scene produced a generation of American avant-garde playwrights influenced by European absurdism, among them Lanford Wilson, Sam Shepard, Megan Terry, Robert Patrick, Terrence McNally and Isreal Horovitz, who later established his own theater company in Gloucester, Mass. Just now, there's an unofficial Chicago Horovitz Festival, with three theaters producing his work. North Shore Fish (reviewed recently by Rick Reed) continues at Theatre Building Chicago through Oct. 5. Next week, Mary Shen Barnidge will review Today, I Am a Fountain Pen, the debut production of the Chicago Jewish Theatre, Sept. 18-October 19. This week, it's my turn.
Horovitz has written more than 50 plays. As is the case with most exceptionally prolific authors, not all his plays are equally good; but no matter, for he only needs to please himself: most of his plays premiere at his own company. Alfred the Great is the first work in a trilogy about Alfred Weber, 40-year-old celebrated entrepreneur, who returns to his hometown of Wakefield, Mass., after an absence of 15 years. Derivative of Pinter's comedy of menace, Albee's domestic battles, and Sam Shepard's grittiness, it's not one of Horovitz' best. Late in the play, Alfred asks rhetorically, 'Why am I acting this way?' It's a loaded question; for Horovitz doesn't establish a logical basis for his characters' behaviors.
It's supposed to be a mystery, in which Alfred uncovers old evils as the four characters play psychological games. But if the audience aks itself, 'Why doesn't she just get up and leave?' Or 'What's keeping him there?' Or 'Why should I care about these people?' then the play's in trouble. The offstage murder-suicide that ends the work—I've given it away—comes out of left field, and is a total shocker for what is, really, a dark comedy. Horovitz seems not to think out his plays or character arcs, but merely goes from action to action searching for stage effect, which he often finds.
The Theo Ubique production is well done, but limited in its range, only partly owing to the play itself. Director Fred Anzevino and cast nail the menace and hostility that fuel much of the play, but they miss the slyness and verbal by-play (think Pinter's The Homecoming), the cageyness that surely Horovitz intended. They perform only in naturalistic mode, ignoring the absurd streaks that abound. The players—Karen Yates, Steve Emily, Laura Sturm and Andy Hager as Alfred—are committed, energetic, appealing and professional but without subtlety. No one plays subtext.
Within the cramped confines of the Heartland Studio, this production looks good because it's kept simple. All wall/floor surfaces are painted black to make them disappear, allowing the few pieces of tasteful, well-selected furniture to make a statement.