Review: SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION Lacks Sizzle

Six Degrees of Separation

Written by John Guare, Directed by Liz Fenstermaker; Devon Fitchett, Assistant Director; Matthew Ciborowski, Stage Manager; Kendrick Terrell Evans, Assistant Stage Manager; Maura Neff, Costume Designer; Connor O'Leary, Properties Designer; Kevin Deane Parker, Scenic Designer; PJ Strachman, Lighting Designer; Andrew Duncan Will, Sound Designer; Joe Ouellette, Master Carpenter

CAST: Steve Auger, Dani Berkowitz, Steven L. Emanuelson, Kevin Hanley, Elyas Deen Harris, Ben Heath, Janelle Mills, C.D. Matthew Murphy, Alex Portenko, Christine Power

Performances through November 22 by Bad Habit Productions, Deane Hall, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street, Boston, MA; Box Office 617-933-8600 or www.badhabitproductions.org

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation" - Henry David Thoreau, Walden

In a nutshell, this would seem an apt categorization for the characters in John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation, nominated for the 1991 Tony Award for Best Play and subsequently made into the 1993 film of the same name. It may be the only logical reason to explain why a white, affluent Manhattan couple is so easily taken in by a polite, well-dressed, young African American man who shows up on their doorstep claiming to be a friend of their children. Conversely, despite being a con artist, Paul is also desperately searching for a place to belong and someone who will care for him and look out for his welfare.

The second offering of Bad Habit Productions' Season 9: To Face Ourselves, Six Degrees is directed by Liz Fenstermaker and features an ensemble of three BHP veterans with seven actors making their debuts with the company. Much of the cast plays dual roles and differentiate their characters well. Dorchester native Elyas Deen Harris tackles the challenging leading role of Paul and acquits himself very respectably. His good looks make it plausible that he could actually be the son of Sidney Poitier, a key component of his ruse, and he comfortably shifts between his poses as the cultured Harvard student ingratiating himself with the Kittredges, and the homeless victim of rejection by a racist father who camps out in Central Park. Harris interacts with everyone in the cast with ease, mirroring the ability of his character to fit into his surroundings like a chameleon.

Inspired by a true story, Guare explores the premise that everyone in the world is connected to everyone else by a chain of no more than six people. The idea that a con man/robber could inveigle himself into several families hinges on a conceit that includes the American fascination with celebrities, that everyone wants to have their fifteen minutes of fame, and that if we have unsatisfactory relationships within our own families, we can create our family of choice. Paul capitalizes on these notions and is surprisingly successful at outsmarting just about everybody, at least for a time.

Art dealer Flan Kittredge (Steven L. Emanuelson) and his wife Ouisa (Christine Power) are wheeler-dealers in their own right, trying to score a major investment from their South African friend Geoffrey (C.D. Matthew Murphy), but they get distracted when Paul bursts into their apartment, bleeding from a stab wound. They take him at his word when he name-drops their two kids at Harvard, and he is so much more pleasant and deferential to them than Tess (Dani Berkowitz) and Woody (Ben Heath), that they begin to treat him as a surrogate son. He promises them walk-on roles in Poitier's (fictional) soon-to-be-filmed version of Cats, gets $50 in walking-around money from them, and garners an invitation to spend the night. Things go awry when they catch him in bed with a hustler and chase them both out of the apartment.

Next thing we know, the Kittredge's friends Kitty (Janelle Mills) and Larkin (Steve Auger) come to visit with a great story to tell. Can you guess? Yes, Sidney Poitier's son called on them, too, and offered them roles in the film, but they only shelled out $25 for the privilege of being conned. Paul's next victims are a young, struggling couple (Berkowitz, Heath) that he meets in the park. After spinning his tale of woe about being rejected by his racist father, Elizabeth and Rick invite him to their spare digs and he proceeds to strip them of their savings, leading to a tragic outcome that he could not foresee. Distressed by this turn of events, he gets back in touch with Ouisa to rescue him.

Up to this point in the play, it is conceivable that most of what happens could happen, even though it requires buying into a certain set of beliefs about human nature. However, at this juncture, Guare asks for a suspension of disbelief which I think is beyond the pale, even for these narcissistic characters. To the actors' credit, they are committed to the denouement and play it straight, but it doesn't come across as credible behavior in 2015. Six Degrees feels dated in other ways, too, as drawing room comedies from a specific time sometimes do. Perhaps it is that some of the things that were meant to shock in 1990 no longer have the power to do so in our increasingly cynical society. On the other hand, it may be that none of Guare's self-involved characters deserves our sympathy. Bad Habit does a good job staging the play, but "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" seems more relevant today.

Photo credit: Paul Cantillon, Lidec Photo (Alex Portenko, Steve Auger, Kevin Hanley, Janelle Mills, Elyas Deen Harris - in foreground, Christine Power, Steven L. Emanuelson, C.D. Matthew Murphy, Ben Heath, Dani Berkowitz)

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