Theater review | The end of the world — on the nightly newscast

Theater Review |

"And now, reporting live from the existential abyss ... "

You don't hear those words in "Tragedy, a tragedy," a recent Will Eno play that meshes the media satire of TV's "The Daily Show" with the sci-fi scare of "War of the Worlds." But you might as well.

Eno (also author of the more pretentious "Thom Pain") may go on a bit long, but in a vein that's quite funny, and oddly moving. It blends the utter vacuity of typical TV news dispatches, with the metaphysical whammy of environmental apocalypse.

What's going down at the end of the world as we know it? News at 11!

Though the piece outruns its concept, the Satori Group has chosen well for their Seattle debut. The young fringe troupe moved here recently from Cincinnati, Ohio, and if this is what they're capable of, they're very welcome to hang around.

Eno's premise: One day the sun simply disappears from the sky, an event earnestly but cluelessly covered by a local TV news anchor (played by Alex Matthews) and his field reporters (Lindsey Valitchka, Spike Friedman and Anthony Darnell).

They start out in cheerily pompous mode, covering the story as if it was the opening of a new mall or a highway traffic jam — but with a lot fewer details

"I've just received word that we don't know anything more yet," is about the level of reportage they muster, while babbling on brightly.

But the hilariously banal news-speak gives way to fear and awe, as reality sinks in: the Earth has been plunged into eternal darkness.

As an addled newsman opines, this may just be the end of "the long, sad, confusing history of everything."

Smartly staged by Adam Standley and Caitlin Sullivan, the show also incorporates some aptly hazy video, shot live by Adrienne Clark — who also plays a local denizen unrattled by the encroaching existential void.

Misha Berson: mberson@seattletimes.com