Review: Compelling, Timely SIDE EFFECTS at Taffety Punk

As Capitol Hill seems to talking nonstop about the state of American health care at a time when it all might change, a couple of one-man plays at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop was breaking down the issues in terms that are immediate, emotional and human.

The Chicago actor Michael Milligan spent three years interviewing doctors and delving into the myriad of issues that seem to be defeating them before he condensed it into "Side Effects," a new one-man play he's doing in repertoire with an award winning one from the frayed consumer end of the crisis, "Mercy Killers," at the stage of Taffety Punk Theatre Company.

Where Mulligan may seem the perfect salt-of-the-earth, crushed by the system "forgotten man" in a red ball cap in "Mercy Killing," he's a frazzled physician visiting a lawyer in "Side Effects."

He's late for the appointment - maybe he had another one of those days when he saw 25 to 30 patients - the only way to get a little money. Yet being that busy means being as busy contacting the insurance companies for every one, and maintaining a mountain of papers he carries with him. And being that busy also means he's in constant worry of making a little mistake, or forgetting to send on the medical records of a patient -- details that could be crucial.

"Side Effects" comes with some sobering facts - that more than half of practicing physicians suffer burnout; or that suicide rates among doctors is twice that of the general populace.

But it's more effective to see the results of all this pressure and a broken system on one man, which is why Milligan is effective in his play in getting across an argument that has the power to actually move someone out of their entrenched position on Capitol Hill. And that's saying a lot.

Milligan gets it across with a kind of everyman swagger - one that is fairly beaten down. As directed by Tom Oppenheim (as is his other play), there is some good pacing and a slow revealing of plot, even as the ever-active Milligan rages, slumps and otherwise well uses the theater space occupied by a chair, desk and that enemy of the doctor, the clock.

At 65 minutes, it almost feels like a Fringe-like play; indeed, at the same length, "Mercy Killing" won the 2013 Fringe First Award in Edinburgh.

How much more effective would it be to trim a little from each work and present them together in one night? Effective, but also exhausting at least for the writer/actor in question.

Still, it seemed that "Side Effects" was teetering somewhere between the usual hourlong Fringe one-man and something larger. Seeing both on the same night might scare away people who may think they've already heard enough about health care problems in recent weeks (Congress is a pre-existing condition).

There's grit and intent behind "Side Effects" that can't be missed, and Milligan is doing great work bringing it to a place where it might even have an effect.

Taffety makes a good temporary home for it; and Milligan is planning his own new company, The Poor Box Theater that has some of the same goals as the D.C. company - important theater with a reasonable co-pay; that is to say, ticket price.

Running time: 65 minutes, no intermission.

Photo credit: Michael Milligan in "Side Effects" at Taffety Punk. Photo by Allan Nowakowski.

"Side Effects" plays in repertory with "Mercy Killers" through June 3 at the Taffety Punk Theatre Company at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, 545 7th St. SE, Washington, D.C. Tickets are available online.

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