Theater fans can get a new appreciation of theater of the absurd this month with eight short plays being staged by Gwydion Theatre over the next few weekends. We saw three of the plays on the first weekend of the Theatre of the Absurd Festival in Chopin Theatre’s downstairs studio theater. Chopin and Gwydion are co-presenters of the festival. This evening of theatre of the absurd is engrossing and entertaining. Don’t hesitate to attend other performances this month, whether or not you’re familiar with the plays and playwrights.
Theater of the absurd, first identified in an essay by critic Martin Esslin in 1960, is usually defined as humans living in a world without meaning; the plays presented are sometimes plotless, chaotic and often comedic. The three plays we review briefly here are The Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter, The Zoo Story by Edward Albee, and Action by Sam Shepard. See our overview of the rest of the festival later in this article.
All three plays ask questions that are never answered. In The Dumb Waiter, one character constantly asks, “Why doesn’t he get in touch?” In The Zoo Story, the question is, what really happened at the zoo? And in Action, the question is, what is outside that these people are afraid of?
The Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter
Ben and Gus (Caleb Petre and Kason Chesky) are two hoodlums waiting for instructions in the basement of what used to be a restaurant kitchen, now furnished as a bedroom. Ben reclines on his bed, reading the paper, and Gus ties his shoes, over and over again. They’re armed and waiting for orders from some nameless chief.
An envelope with 12 matchsticks arrives via the dumb waiter at stage rear. Suddenly food orders start coming through a speaking tube attached to the wall and sometimes orders are delivered by the dumb waiter. Gus and Ben scramble for random snack items in Gus’ cavernous duffel bag and send them up via the dumb waiter.
But then orders change and they’re apparently informed they have a target—and the target is to arrive.
Pinter’s 1957 play is a classic example of theater of the absurd with motives and purpose unclear and life or death hanging in the balance. Jason Pavlovich directs this one-act, one- hour play. Petre and Chesky appropriately portray men facing some sort of meaningless nothingness.
The Dumb Waiter is staged in the lounge area in Chopin’s downstairs studio theater, furnished with comfy old cushioned chairs and love seats.
The Zoo Story by Edward Albee
Peter (Bob Webb) is sitting on a park bench reading a book. He’s well-dressed and we learn later that he’s a book publishing executive with a wife, two daughters, two cats and two parakeets. He regularly spends a weekend afternoon reading in this quiet area of Central Park.
His peace is interrupted when Jerry (Grayson Kennedy) arrives. He’s a younger man, scruffily dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt. Jerry announces he’s been to the zoo, and adds, “You’ll read about it in the paper tomorrow.” Jerry paces around the bench and begins to ask questions of Peter, which Peter answers briefly and keeps trying to return to his book. Then Jerry begins to tell Peter stories of his own life. He lives in a rooming house on the upper west side; he describes some of his neighbors and his battles with his landlady’s vicious dog. He keeps promising Peter that he will tell him what happened at the zoo.
A threat of danger hangs in the air throughout these conversations. Is Jerry going to harm Peter? He tries to shove Peter off his bench and Peter revolts at losing his bench. That’s when conversation turns to physical altercation.
Tommy Thams directs this classic one-act play, written by Albee in 1958. The setting is a park bench placed in front of a painted scenic backdrop. The play is notable for the difference in the roles of the two characters. Jerry is loquacious, sometimes comic, sometimes threatening, and Grayson Kennedy plays the role superbly. Peter is composed but reactive; he is always watching Jerry and reacting to his diatribe. The role of Peter is demanding in its stillness and Webb carries it off well.
The Zoo Story is one-act, one hour, and is staged in Chopin’s downstairs studio space with regular theater seating.
Action by Sam Shepard
Four people are stuck in a house on Christmas Day. They sit at a table in silence. Something disastrous has happened outside but we don’t know what. Two of them imitate bears. One tap dances. One is so hungry she chews on her arm and is bloody-faced for the rest of the play.
Finally Christmas dinner is served; Lisa (Maddie Hillock) brings a roasted bird to the table. Shooter (Caleb Petre) asks, “Aren’t we having any vegetables? You know the creamed onions and the candied yams?” The two women—Lisa and Lupe (Ellie Thomson, the voracious one)—carve up the bird and eat ravenously with knives, forks and fingers. They put the carcass on a plate and hand it to Jeep (Tommy Thams) but he doesn’t eat.
Shooter makes a fortress of sorts out of an old recliner chair. Lisa does the dishes. Lupe strings a clothes line across the room and begins to hang bloody shirts up to dry.
There’s no plot and little action takes place in Action. The four actors are, in turn, silent, fearful, reading, in motion and silent again. The play, directed by Grayson Kennedy, runs about 30 minutes in the Chopin Theater downstairs studio.
Sam Shepard wrote Action in 1974. Stephen J. Bottoms’ 1998 book, The Theatre of Sam Shepard, refers to Action as one of Shepard’s best works. I’ve seen all Shepard’s major works multiple times and I couldn’t disagree more. Action is interestingly black and plotless—and it gets credit for only taking 30 minutes of my time—but it can’t match Curse of the Starving Class, True West, Buried Child, Fool for Love or The Lie of the Mind.
Festival designers are Eleanor Kahn, who handles scenic design, and Samuel Kessler, lighting designer
Theater of the Absurd Festival Continues
The festival continues through May 25 with three rotating plays on Fridays and Saturdays at 7pm and two plays plus a lecture and complimentary food on Sundays. Tickets for a single show are $25 and for three plays in one day, $45.
The other plays on the festival program are:
Line by Israel Horowitz
Catastrophe by Samuel Beckett
Mistakes by Vaclav Havel
Muzzled by Reza Shirmarz
The Police by Slawomir Mrozek
Gwydion Theatre and Chopin Theatre deserve thanks for creating this Theatre of the Absurd Festival. There are many more playwrights and plays whose work fits in this category so we hope they continue this festival partnership in future years. I can’t wait to see what they do next year.
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