Review: Dark and Edgy IN ARABIA WE'D ALL BE KINGS at Theater Schmeater

Stephen Adly Guirgis has made a name for himself for creating glimpses inside the worlds of the rougher and edgier parts of town. Places inhabited by junkies, hookers and criminals like those in his shows "In Arabia We'd All Be Kings" currently at Theater Schmeater and "The Motherf**ker with the Hat" currently from Washington Ensemble Theatre (yes, we have two Guirgis shows in town right now). But while the characters in both shows are well written and developed and thoroughly engaging, those in "In Arabia ..." seem to be lacking a complete narrative or plot making it more of a character study than a story.

We meet the denizens of a rundown bar in Mayor Giuliani's New York of the 1990's. There's the gruff and selfish bar owner Jake (Brandon Felker) and his sweet if slightly slow bartender Charlie (Samuel Hagen), the recently paroled Lenny (Drew Hobson) and his on again/off again girlfriend Daisy (Elena Flory-Barnes), the struggling Ms. Reyes (Yolanda Suarez) and her angry and thuggish daughter DeMaris (Ayo Tushinde), the drug addicted Skank (Nik Doner) and Chickie (Jacqueline Miedema) both of whom are willing to do anything for their next fix, and of course the bar's resident drunk Sammy (Michael Ramquist). And entering into the mix we have the scheming real estate developer Greer (Draeko Damen) as well as a multitude of other various inhabitants of the streets (many played by Andrew Shanks).

As I said, the show lacks a plot or much of any central conflict other than "aren't these peoples' lives terrible?" It felt like Guirgis was more examining the people of this world without much to say about their stories as he grew as a writer which could be close to the truth as this was one of his earlier works. And while the characters are interesting and the dialog well written there's not much to their lives other than poor decisions leading them to being trapped in their circumstances.

But lack of story aside, director Julia Griffin has assembled a cast of some truly talented actors who dive into these characters without fear creating some of the most amazing performances I've seen this season. I have to specifically call out some incredible choices such as Hobson with some amazingly layered moments taking him beyond a stereotypical tough guy coupled beautifully with the power yet lost states of Flory-Barnes. Doner and Miedema bring in some of the most honest and yet empathetic junkies I think I've seen. Hagen brings some heartbreaking strength and quiet power to his role until he lets it all go in a quite powerful moment. And Ramquist might not have much to say throughout the evening but when he does (and even when he doesn't) he captures some stunning characterizations of a shattered drunk.

With a simple yet beautifully projected upon set from Ahren Buhmann and these incredible performances the world is disturbingly complete even if the plot may be missing. So with my three letter rating system I'll need to split up the rating for "In Arabia We'd All Be Kings" with a MEH+ for some beautifully written characters lacking a story and a resounding YAY for the stirring performances. So as long as you go in looking to see some well thought out and performed characters without much of an arc then you're in for some mind blowing and hard hitting theater. And I recommend you do if only to see those performances. They're really just that good and should not be missed.

"In Arabia We'd All Be Kings" performs at Theater Schmeater through February 13th. For tickets or information visit them online at www.schmeater.org.

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