Review: THE GLORY OF THE WORLD; It's Not You, It's Mee

A champion of the "It means whatever you think it means" school of theatre, Charles Mee posts all of his plays on charlesmee.org for anyone to use free of charge, encouraging theatre artists to adapt them any way they see fit.

"There is no such thing as an original play," he bluntly states.

If THE GLORY OF THE WORLD isn't, by the author's admission, original, it is nevertheless relatively new. Director Les Waters' sometimes lively, sometimes languid, sometimes amusing, sometimes frustrating production that's landed at BAM is a transfer of the piece's original mounting from last year, as commissioned by the Actors Theatre of Louisville and financed by a former Episcopal monk who won $259 million dollars from a Powerball ticket.

The 80 minute philosophical cavalcade is bookended by two lengthy silent interludes where a bearded man sits with his back to the audience while thoughts like "How do I live?," "Crunch of shoes on sidewalk like sound of peanuts being cracked," and "What do you mean by contemplation, anyway?" are flashed onto the wall.

The rest of the cast, seventeen men, none of whom play discernible characters, rowdily enter through a garage door, ready to party.

They're here to celebrate the January 31st, 2015 100th anniversary of the birth of Kentucky's most famousTrappist monk, Thomas Merton, w hose more than 70 books on interfaith spirituality, social issues and pacifism, particularly his 1948 autobiography "The Seven Story Mountain," are considered one of the 20th Century's most influential bodies of literary work.

But don't expect to learn much about Merton as the boys drink toasts, quote the great thinkers like Kafka, Einstein and Christina Applegate, lip-sync, flex their guns and participate in a fourteen-minute battle royale of a brawl that's impressive in its execution but tiresome in its length. Fortunately, the fellas forget all their differences once the pizza arrives.

I'll leave it to those of a philosophical ilk to project any kind of interpretation they like onto THE GLORY OF THE WORLD. As abstract theatre goes, the piece certainly has its charms, though most of its individual moments, like clueless party guests, just don't know when to leave.

Photos: Bill Brymer

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