Theatre of the Absurd

With its mixture of reality, fiction, and loose ends, Evanston is not an easy play to stage. However, under the brilliant direction of Guillermo Cienfuegos and a talented cast, Will Arbery‘s characters come to life to offer an amusing story about…salt and technology.

There is, of course, more than just salt and technology. Basil (Hugo Armstrong) and Peter (Michael Redfield) work in the Department of Public Works, salting the roads during snow season in the city of Evanston, Illinois. Peter seems depressed and thinks about death constantly. Basil is from Greece. He has a secret that bothers him a lot. Their boss is Jane (Lesley Fera). Basil and Jane are engaging in some sexual shenanigans. Jane has a 31-year-old daughter, Jane Jr. (Kaia Gerber), who is insecure and suicidal. Basil talks about a lady in a purple hat who appears at times during the play. The story sounds simple and straightforward, until it doesn’t.

The scenes then turn topsy-turvy, jumping from reality to the surreal. And that’s where our imagination kicks in. The minimal exposition of the characters and their existential crises converge to make some kind of sense, but it’s up to the audience to connect the dots and find the explanation of the mayhem seen on stage. And that might be the value of this play. It seems as if Arbery didn’t just write a play to hypnotize the audience. Arbery wants the spectator to collaborate with him to write the story together. The relationship then becomes a clash between writer and audience. As an agent provocateur, Arbery shakes the spectators to get them out of their comfort zone and allow them to construct the drama and find the solution of the story. The dramatic elements are scattered around in an open form, and it’s the audience who solves the puzzle. An amusing challenge to say the least.

The play could’ve been flat and boring as an experimental piece. Fortunately, Cienfuegos excites the elements and the characters become a spectacular display of dysfunctional personalities on the verge of self-destruction, with plenty of drama and comedy in between to engage and entertain. To heighten the experience, Scenic Designer Mark Mendelson uses a variety of elements and effects to convey the snowy surroundings and the fantastical allusions described in the play.

One can imagine that the director and actors had to work a bit harder to find the motivations that drive the story and the characters. This is because the play looks like an open story, somehow like Luis Buñuel‘s films and Edward Albee‘s plays, with absurdist situations and strange characters with no apparent direction. But with his usual magic touch, Cienfuegos takes the script and turns it into a dynamic expression that uses physical and verbal comedy as a vehicle to express the abstract truths of the story and infuse the characters with a thrilling aura of surrealism to compliment Arbery’s fantasy-reality dualism.

One of the themes in the play is the advancement of technology and the displacement of certain jobs. As a new technology with heated roads threatens Basil and Peter’s jobs, Jane tries to save their jobs, although she gets a better position for herself. Not much hope for Basil and Peter, but that’s how the story goes, at times reflecting our pressing reality, such as AI, a threat for some, an opportunity for others.

In a series of scenes, Arbery gives his characters some kind of backstory to justify their actions. Those revelations however, are not detailed enough to project Peter and Basil as fully developed characters. This might be intentional to force the audience to fill in the blanks in that exercise of solving the puzzle together.

To emphasize the absurdist tone of the play, Arbery adds a strange case of entity fusionism. Basil tells Peter of a dream where he and his grandma experience a close encounter with each other. The description is shocking and surreal, a symbolic instance similar to the one experienced by Montero in Carlos Fuentes‘ fantastical novel Aura, a bit different, but using sexuality as a projection of grander themes.

One aspect that makes this production an exciting experience is the superb acting. The four thespians play their parts with passion and give the characters a suspenseful sense of despair and hope, always holding on for dear life. Armstrong, Redfield, and Fera are a display of talented stage experience, contributing to create emotional, dysfunctional, and engaging performances to make this complex story work. As for Gerber, she exhibits depth and commitment to the craft. She has a commanding stage presence, moving easily between drama and comedy, delivering her lines with conviction and offering a moving performance, hinting even a career in music? She’s a rising stage star and a refreshing addition to the theatre scene.

In trying to define Evanston, we can say that the play features themes of new technology, guilt, insecurities, suicidal tendencies, human relationships, and a whole lot of salt. But it is the audience who build, define, and find the beauty in the abstract world of Will Arbery.

Evanston Salt Costs Climbing

Rogue Machine (in the Matrix Theatre)
7657 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90046

Opening: 8pm on Saturday, January 25, 2025
Schedule: 8pm Fridays, Saturdays, Mondays; 3pm Sundays
(No performances on Monday January 27, February 10)
Closing: March 9, 2025

Tickets: roguemachinetheatre.org

Written by Will Arbery. Directed by Guillermo Cienfuegos. Assistant Director: Hall McCurdy. Produced by Justin Okin. Associate Producer: Athena Saxon. A Rogue Machine Production.

Cast: Hugo Armstrong as Basil. Lesley Fera as Jane Maiworm. Kaia Gerber as Jane Jr. Michael Redfield as Peter.

Creative team: Mark Mendelson (Scenic Design), Dan Weingarten (Lighting Design), Chris Moscatiello (Sound Design), Christine Cover Ferro (Costume Design), Jenine MacDonald (Prop Design), Michelle Hanzelova-Bierbauer (Projection Design), Victoria Hoffman (Casting), Myrna Gawryn (Movement Director/Intimacy Coordinator), Rachel Ann Manheimer (Stage Manager), Grant Gerrard (Technical Director).

Pacific Resident Theatre presents Edward Albee’s Fam and Yam, directed by Marilyn Fox and Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter, directed by Marilyn Fox and Elina de Santos. Edward Albee was American, Harold Pinter was British. Pinter was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2005. Edward Albee received Pulitzer and Tony Awards for five of his plays.

Both plays Fam And Yam and The Dumb Waiter were first produced in 1960, a tumultuous time in which the US and England were still processing the consequences of World II, the Korean War, the crushing of the Hungarian revolt, the Cold War, the Suez crisis, and, in the case of England, the decolonization movements in Asia and Africa. The two plays are examples of the movement called theatre of the absurd.

Albee‘s Fam and Yam is a traditional play where famous playwright Fam (Brad Greenquist, Theatre Review: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner) is interviewed by Yam (Jason Downs), also a playwright who is not famous. The conversation starts by Yam praising Fam for his apartment, his paintings, and the views from his window. As Fam continues to drink, Yam switches the conversation and starts to lambaste the theatre industry; pretty much no one is spared in his tirade—theatre owners, producers, unions, critics, the pinheads, etc. The play is an early example of Albee’s wit and his aggressive, anti-social stance. For this production, the creative team used high key lighting, appealing and fashionable 60s costumes, and painting on the wall that become alive at the end.

Pinter‘s The Dumb Waiter is a darker play where two hitmen, Ben (Anthony Foux) and Gus (Jason Downs) are waiting in a claustrophobic room for their victim. The absurdity of the story is exemplified by the box of matches thrown under the door and the food orders in the dumb waiter (the elevator which delivers food) that keep coming. As part of the angry young men group, Pinter’s writings contain elements of violence, volatility, and uncertainty. His plays have moments of dialogue but also moments of silence. As in music, silence is as critical as sound to create a masterpiece.

Pinter was an intuitive writer that was a keen observer of human behavior. The Dumb Waiter is a play with implied violence, characters with not much background stories, suffocating environment (Ben and Gus are in a dark, windowless room), and a sense of latent danger. These elements with loose ends draw the audience into the story and allow them to become part of the action by letting them come up with their own conclusions.

This is a great opportunity to see two plays by two of the most influential playwrights of the 20th century. Their writings are witty, insightful, and poetic. Add to this treat the powerful and superb performances of Brad Greenquist, Anthony Foux, and Jason Downs and you have a unique and unforgettable experience not to be missed.

Fam And Yam and The Dumb Waiter

Fam And Yam. Written by Edward Albee and directed by Marilyn Fox. The Dumb Waiter. Written by Harold Pinter and directed by Marilyn Fox and Elina de Santos. Cast: Brad Greenquist, Anthony Foux, and Jason Downs. Creative team: William Wilday (Scenic Design), Matt Richter (Lighting Design), Audrey Eisner (Costume Design), Christopher Moscatiello (Sound Design), Teak Piegdon (Stage Manager), Myrna Gawryn (Set Change Movement), and Michael Rothhaar (Consultant).