Playwright: David Schwimmer. At: Lookingglass Theatre at the Water Works, 821 N. Michigan
Phone: 312-337-0665; $28-$62. Runs through: April 25
On the detective shows ( e.g., Law and Order: SVU ) , we get the fast 'n' noisy version of the story. On the television news programs, we get the detached 'n' analytical version. And last season, with David Harrower's Blackbird, playgoers got the inverse version. But author David SchwimmerLookingglass founding member-turned-Hollywood celebrity and, significantly, a board member of the Santa Monica Rape Foundationthinks we still need to be alerted to how sexual deviants, taking advantage of the anonymity afforded by the Internet, lure girls and boys into illicit liaisons. To that end, he has crafted a microcosmic docudrama that walks us, step by tiny stepover one hour and 45 minutes without an intermissionthrough a textbook case of statutory rape.
And what does this latest tract reveal? That unlike the stereotypical fantasies of teddy bear-clutching children dragged from their beds by masked strangers, or plump rococo wenches in filmy robes spirited away by invading armies, the contemporary predator's scenario frequently mimics romantic seduction, its impetus rendered repugnant solely by the age disparity between the participants. That pedophiles are not always withdrawn loners in need of a shave, but can be the very picture of wholesome family men. And that our culture abounds in erotic images of youthful odalisques. ( An early scene depicts two businessmen ogling a nubile waitress before negotiating a clothing company's advertising campaign featuring topless teenagers of both genders, their casual acceptance of this behavior contrasting with a later moment, when one of them discovers a candid photograph of his own adolescent daughter, garbed in scarlet lingerie, imposed on the promotional montage. )
Under the direction of Schwimmer and fellow Lookingglasser Heidi Stillman, the caveat is presented clinically, our rake's progressits banality-of-evil factor heightened by Raymond Fox's boyish visagetracked with an obvious eye to middle-America demographics ( beginning with its setting inwhere else?an affluent, squeaky-clean, conspicuously white suburban community ) . But this cut-and-dried approach makes for a noticeable absence of suspense andexcept for the videotronic scene changesa waste of the Lookingglass playhouse's extensive technical budget. Indeed, the overall ambience is that of a made-for-TV movie transferred to the stage, so that it comes as small surprise when we read that the script is currently being tweaked for just that purpose. When you have sufficient clout, you can afford to workshop your play in a 160-seat Gold Coast auditorium.