Nothing to Say
Good staging can’t save Craig Wright’s empty, self-indulgent post-9/11 play
by Martin Brady
Nashville received its first exposure to the stage works of Craig Wright earlier this season, when GroundWorks Theatre presented The Pavilion, an overwrought exercise about love and fate. In spite of that play’s failings, the hype on his post-9/11 play Recent Tragic Events bodes for something more promising. With a strong cast, a capable director and a stylishly designed set, Tennessee Rep has the pieces in place for something extraordinary, only to be undone by the playwright, whose comedy-drama crumbles under the weight of its gimmickry and its inability to say anything about the human condition.
The audience is tricked for a while, because Wright—an in-demand writer for both live theater and television—sets up his play invitingly. His thirtysomething Minneapolis characters look cool and reasonably prosperous, and their glib dialogue reveals that they’re only vaguely cognizant of how the destruction of the World Trade Center fits into their lives. It’s tempting to anticipate that somewhere in the course of the play’s action, they’ll face some stark realizations. They don’t.
The play opens with ad exec Waverly (Jenny Littleton) getting word that her twin sister, a student in New York City, hasn’t been heard from since the attacks. The timing proves bad for bookstore manager Andrew (David Wilkerson), who has arrived at Waverly’s apartment to take her out on a blind date. That never happens, and instead neighbors Ron (Pete Vann) and Nancy (Anitra Brumagen) drop by for pizza and beer, while Waverly flops down in a brooding funk and Andrew reels off his bookish knowledge, showing a particular interest in the published works of Joyce Carol Oates.
It’s reasonable to think that a seriocomic scenario could emerge around the topic of 9/11, but since Wright’s characters avoid politics at all costs, we’re left with the playwright’s iffy sermonizing about chance and coincidence. He conveys this in part via lame and/or undeveloped surprise devices, including an appearance by the play’s “stage manager” (Evelyn Blythe), who establishes some peculiar ground rules for watching the play. After intermission, Wright drops this gratuitous gimmick without warning, rendering it nothing more than critical structural failure. Equally inept is the revelation that Joyce Carol Oates is Waverly’s great-aunt and that she happens to be coming over for a visit—a stunt that Wright further overdoes by introducing the novelist in the guise of a sock puppet. He might get credit for such a move if he weren’t simply stealing from writer David Lindsay-Abaire, who first used a sock puppet in his Fuddy Meers—and to much funnier, much more pointed effect.
Director René Copeland moves her actors around like real people, with the exception of an interminable, inscrutable Act 2 drinking game. Overall, Vann gets the most mileage out of the play’s comedy, while Wilkerson, trapped in his character’s effete persona, is nerdy to distraction. Littleton and Brumagen are pleasantly functional, while Blythe’s world-weary cameo elicits a few chuckles.
Artifice rules the day in Wright’s world. He takes superficially believable people, surrounds them with the potential for meaningful connection, then indulges his verbal cleverness without daring to get beneath the surface. Worst of all, he doesn’t invite his audience to think about anything truly important, political or otherwise. The subject of 9/11 deserves better than Recent Tragic Events. What we’re left with is a sharply professional handling of a majorly disappointing play.
In search of Oberon
ACT I is searching for an actor to play the role of Oberon in its forthcoming production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Auditions will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 7, from 5-8 p.m. For more information, phone 385-0717. The play, under the direction of Marc Mazzone, opens on May 5 for a two-weekend run at the Darkhorse Theater.
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