Playwright: Bruce Norris
At: Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Phone: ( 312 ) 335-1650; $20-$60
Runs through: Aug. 27
By Jonathan Abarbanel
Those who saw Bruce Norris' play The Pain and the Itch at Steppenwolf last year will recognize immediately a continuation of the same themes, in which so-called civilized and even liberal individuals have their principles tested in a microcosm of the real geopolitical world—and fail that test.
In last year's play, a prosperous American white couple had to confront their benign bigotry and narrow self-interest when they indirectly were complicit in the needless death of their housekeeper, a black African Islamic immigrant. In The Unmentionables, another prosperous white couple is plunked down in West Africa itself, symbols of contemporary industrial colonialism in which despoiling Western corporations collude with despotic and corrupt African governments. When it appears that a young, white missionary has been murdered by rebels, the white hosts must decide whether or not to allow torture within their gated villa, where they've created a sanctuary of reason and generous hospitality for young and old, Black and white.
Norris occasionally is obvious as a writer, but none can deny the cleverness with which he uses the tools of drama. The Unmentionables is an extraordinary inversion of the elements of classic farce, taken to a dark side bordering on horror. Those farcical elements—and you'll find them all in 19th-century boulevard comedies—include unexpected guests; an oversexed and inebriated hostess; a bumbling comical doctor; an officious government officer; misplaced panties; mistaken assumptions; a celebrity; and a gag prop.
Despite moments that are macabre and frightening, the play cannot help being substantially comedic, albeit a serious and darkly sardonic comedy that pulls back only at the last moment from the chasm of complete moral and social chaos. But Norris leaves every character damaged or compromised at the end, and never takes sides: no one is completely right or wrong. His bleak view that there is no absolute good and, perhaps, not even any good people flirts with nihilism because he offers no social hope beyond the punctured veneer of civilized behavior.
The Unmentionables is handsomely designed by Todd Rosenthal. I wish I lived in that airy, spacious villa. Director Anna D. Shapiro and her smack-on ensemble take obvious pleasure in the work's intentional artifice, but never overplay its devices. Theirs is a controlled relish as even inverted farce must run like clockwork. The principal players are Rick Snyder and Amy Morton ( hosts ) ; Lea Coco and Shannon Cochran ( missionaries ) ; Jon Hill ( young rebel ) ; Kenn E. Head ( doctor ) ; and Ora Jones ( government official ) .
Steppenwolf wisely has invested considerable time and resources into Norris' playwriting career. ( He also acts. ) The rewards have been significant for artists and audiences alike. Norris' plays consistently are theatrical and intellectual interest. One day, though, he must take sides.
