Theater review | "Wrecks," other shorts are a superb LaBute showcase

Theater Review |

Neil LaBute is a playwright provocateur. This outstanding Community Theatre production of "Wrecks" and three shorter LaBute works, directed by Olivia Laurell, provides a superb showcase for his examinations of character and morality. (The one-act "Wrecks" plays every performance, and other short plays accompany it in rotation.)

LaBute's dark meditations on the human condition are influenced by Greek myths. But don't get the idea that this production is a downer. It's warm, often funny. Its characters are endearing or deserving of our compassion, and, as in other of the playwright's works, there are surprises that burst forth like bombs when revealed.

Karl Keff as Edward Carr, a bereaved husband in "Wrecks," is mesmerizing. His monologue is an hourlong internal conversation carried on beside his beloved wife's coffin.

Keff brilliantly describes his passionate and emotionally fulfilling marriage, his deep love and his great loss. As are all sorrowing mourners, he's on an emotional roller coaster. Warm memories collide with heartbreak. He can't keep still, pacing; then sitting; jumping up to gesticulate; hands in motion lighting cigarettes, rubbing his face, wiping his eyes. Tender thoughts bump up against torment.

Then comes the LaButian twist. "Of course," you'll say. But it's unlikely you'll have figured it out before he springs it on you.

At a recent performance, the other play presented was "Coax." Here, an endearing young man, wonderfully played by Michael Harris, waits to finally meet the Internet friend with whom he's corresponded for months. He fidgets. He's not smooth. Clearly he's uncomfortable. He speaks to the audience, breaks down that fourth wall, questions what's real, what's illusion. His insecurities remind us of our own.

As the play progresses we relate to him — we want him to succeed with the young lady who finally shows up. Then once again, LaBute pulls the rug out from under us. All is not what we perceived.

Thought-provoking plays in the hands of a sensitive director and fine actors equal powerful theater.

Nancy Worssam: nworssam@earthlink.net