Playwright: Angus MacLachlan
At: Profiles Theatre, 4147 N. Broadway
Phone: ( 773 ) 549-1815; $18-$22
Runs through: August 21
Pictured
Whitney Schaffer (left), Eric Burgher (center), and Carolyn Klein (right) are featured in Profiles Theatre's Midwest Premiere of The Radiant Abyss by Angus MacLachlan. The production is now playing through Aug. 21. Profiles Theatre is located at 4147 N. Broadway, Chicago. Reservations are recommended by calling, ( 773 ) 549-1815 or visiting Profiles online at www.profilestheatre.org . Photo by Lara Goetsch
It was only a matter of time before we got our first post-9/11 spoof. What else are we to make of Angus MacLachlan's grotesque, R. Crumb-sized portrait of American citizens? ( One of whom he is, himself, despite the anglophile name. )
His villain, Erin Skidmore, is an übercapitalist realtor/landlord with political opinions—recited during office sex—that make Phyliss Shafley sound like Molly Ivans. Her sex-toy is Steve Enloe, a mall security guard with his mind firmly focused on his dick. And her dupe is Steve's pregnant girlfriend, Ina ( no surname ) . Her purpose is to 'send a message' to the congregation of the church next door, whose charismatic liturgy inspires a plethora of paranoid fantasies ( all that's lacking in the roster of spurious accusations are the poisoned wells and the bloody wafers ) .
Unfortunately, MacLachlan is more interested in situation than plot or dialogue. Steve and Ina switch sides so abruptly in their support of Erin's scheme ( a slinky blonde in short skirts and five-inch heels, as Anne Coulter demonstrates daily, can get away with anything ) that we are unsure if we are viewing a cautionary tale of lynch-mentality, a satire on antiterrorist xenophobia, a celebration of misandristic female-bonding, or a lament for poor lads bullied and chivvied by ball-busting women. The characters yammer on furiously, but never seem to be addressing one another in any plausible manner.
But even when the action achieves run-in-circles-and-scream intensity, director Darrell W. Cox never quite loses control of his story. Storefront-circuit regulars Carolyn Klein and Whitney Schaffer—playing, respectively, the rapacious Erin and the naive Ina—are accustomed to lifting far heavierweight texts than this, and if Eric Burgher sometimes seems to flounder under Steve's ambivalence, his adolescent persona renders it negligible. Their efforts make for an amusing enough 90 minutes, but playgoers familiar with the Profiles Theatre canon may get nagging feelings of déjà vu—not an auspicious response to a play ostensibly making its midwest premiere.