Review: Laugh 'til it Hurts at WHY TORTURE IS WRONG...

Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them

Written by Christopher Durang, Directed by Adam Zahler; Sam Bondi, Stage Manager; Christine Begin, Assistant Stage Manager; Michael Ricca, Co-Producer; Marc Halpin, Set Designer, Co-Producer; David Reiffel, Sound Designer; Meredith Magoun, Costume Designer; Chris Bocchiaro, Lighting Designer; Kristin Myers, Prop Designer; Sam O'Connell, Dramaturg; Emily Bono, Costume Design Assistant

CAST: Caroline Rose Markham, Alexander J. Morgan, Shelley Brown, Jeff Gill, Jonathan Barron, Alisha Jansky, Brett Milanowski

Performances through August 10 by Titanic Theatre Company at Arsenal Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal Street, Watertown, MA; Box Office 617-383-9538 or www.titanictheatre.org

If the title doesn't tip you off, it will only take a few minutes of watching the play to know that you're in for a wild ride in the Titanic Theatre Company's production of Christopher Durang's Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them. With the newly-minted qualifier "Tony Award-winner" attached to his name (for this year's Best Play Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike), Durang proves to be a gifted playwright, equally at ease with intelligent, drawing room comedy and all-out, bizarre, hit-you-over-the-head humor. In this case, it is the latter, but you'll have to be on your toes to catch all of the juicy political and theatrical references liberally bandied about in this satirical black comedy.

Director Adam Zahler carefully choreographs the mayhem that results when self-appointed members of a shadow government track and interrogate a suspected terrorist who just happens to be the new husband of the leader's daughter. After a drunken night, Felicity (Caroline Rose Markham) wakes up in a motel room and finds herself married to Zamir (Alexander J. Morgan), a mysterious and volatile young man who claims to be Irish. Fearing that he is either crazy or a terrorist, she suggests an annulment, which triggers one of his angry outbursts. When she takes him home to meet her parents, Felicity conveys her suspicions to Luella (Shelley Brown) and Leonard (Jeff Gill), hoping that they can help her out of her quandary. She's thinking along the lines of getting a lawyer, but Leonard is chomping at the bit to employ some enhanced interrogation techniques to get the truth out of Zamir.

Gill and Brown are a pair of old pros and both have won IRNE Awards. The characters they play are off the grid and they milk the roles for all they're worth. Reminiscent of his performance last year as the protagonist in A Behanding in Spokane (Charlestown Working Theater), Gill easily suggests the menace in the man with an itchy trigger finger, who uses napalm to get rid of pesky squirrels. He also conveys Leonard's boyish excitement (while playing the shadowy agent) and his traits as the protective parent and the inattentive husband. Although Luella at first seems to be a total ditz who resides in La-La Land, Brown gives her a dose of humanity and a modicum of sanity so we can feel sympathy for her and understand the methods behind her madness.

Markham and Morgan have comfortable chemistry as the mismatched couple, perhaps owing to both being recent Boston University graduates who appeared together in student productions. Her facial expressions expertly telegraph Felicity's shock and fear, while Morgan quickly shifts from placid to explosive and back without a hitch. The ancillary characters, with their long list of quirks, are comically brought to life by Jonathan Barron as Reverend Mike, a preacher who also makes porno films; Alisha Jansky as Hildegarde, a prim member of Leonard's loony bunch who can't keep her underpants up; and Brett Milanowski as Voice/Narrator, a waiter, and Leonard's henchman with an unusual vocal tic.

The black box theater at the Arsenal Center suits as the venue and Set Designer Marc Harpin uses boxy, reversible set pieces painted black and white. Two stagehands come out between scenes and efficiently move or rotate the furnishings as needed, while Sound Designer David Reiffel fills the void with recorded voices and music. Chris Bocchiaro varies the lighting appropriately to distinguish the locations, including Hooters, the family's living space, and Leonard's lair. Costume Designer Meredith Magoun successfully meets the challenge of Luella's colorful wardrobe, Reverend Mike's "hippy dippy" attire, and Hildegarde's conservative look.

Apropos of a post-9/11 world, Why Torture is Wrong is filled with timely topics and references, including this moment's hot button issue "Stand your ground," and an obsession with national security to the point of imagining that every suspicious person may be a terrorist, regardless of evidence to the contrary. Leonard asserts that war is good foreign policy, even if it is based on wrong information. The characters are smartly written and many of their lines are hysterical, but during the last fifteen or twenty minutes of the play, Durang seems to have lost his way as the narrative goes off the rails. The conceit he employs to seek a satisfactory conclusion is more than a bit contrived and what has been, up to that point, a crisp, fast-paced ride, becomes a befuddled attempt to find a happy ending. To their credit, Zahler and company almost make it work.

Photo credit: Evgenia Eliseeva (Shelley Brown, Alexander J. Morgan, Caroline Rose Markham)

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