Mary (Angela Timberman), Kenny (Tyson Forbes), Ben (John Middleton), and Sharon (Anna Sundberg) in “Detoit.”
PHOTO: Michal Daniel
A friendly backyard barbeque with the neighbors builds to the frayed edges of an absurd but frighteningly believable premise in the Jungle Theater’s production of “Detroit†by Lisa D’Amour. You just won’t believe what happens and it’s not what you think.
Suburbia is crumbling, with each house a little pressure cooker of circumstances that can’t be reversed. It’s more than a result of an economic downturn, more than a belief system that couldn’t hold up under the crash. Nobody seems to know exactly what “it†is, but attacking this idea sure makes for a dynamic and steamy theater experience. And very, very funny.
Mary (Angela Timberman) and Ben (John Middleton) invite the young couple that just moved in next door to come over for dinner. Mary apologizes to Sharon (Anna Sundberg) for not having them over sooner; she didn’t know for two weeks that they were even there. Sharon and Kenny (Tyson Forbes) just got out of rehab where they met, and are staying in the house, which belongs to Kenny’s uncle, for the time being.
It doesn’t take long to realize that Ben and Mary feel the earth slipping out from under them. Ben recently lost his job and Mary drinks to escape this reality and others not so easily defined. Timberman is exquisitely funny when she’s forced to control her character’s responses. The less she does, the funnier it is. When she spirals out of control, the shrieking gets a little distracting, but Timberman’s ability to rein Mary back in quickly realigns our perspective on her.
Both Sundberg and Forbes stress the seams of the fabric that rolls these characters into their neighbors’ stories. With so much of the play’s action just over the edge, exercising patience for its big moments is the challenge. Sundberg has her finest moments when Sharon and Mary are alone, confessing their fears and sharing dreams. Forbes pretty much manhandles Kenny’s explosive persona. In Kenny’s case, the louder he gets, the more we’re convinced that something bigger is simmering under the surface.
Kenny has a harder nut to crack with Ben, who shares little even with his wife. When he finally gets Ben to loosen up, Middleton masterfully portrays a man who is so uncomfortable in his own skin (his home, his life) that the transformation is both hilarious and ominous. Who will keep things under control now? Certainly not Sharon, Kenny or Mary.
When the uncle, Frank (Jay Hornbacker) finally shows up, we begin to question everything we’ve heard about Sharon and Kenny—and not just the stories that Frank sacks.
Technical expertise plays a starring role, too. It’s so well done that I have to give it its due. Multiple set changes are accomplished silently, in the dark and at astonishing speed. The music might have masked some of it, but mostly it was skill and practice. To not do the set changes in this way would poke giant holes in the narrative. Joel Sass, as designer and director, saw it all as one piece; the result is a visual construct of the direction the characters lives are heading. You may not see it as that in process, but the final effect is unmistakable.
This is a play that makes its most profound observations without saying them at all. In fact, my companion at Saturday’s performance came to a conclusion radically different than my own, and even more disturbing. It’s that kind of play, much like a group of people hearing different messages from the same conversation; each audience member gets to own their own piece of it, in a way. It’s what gives this play its complexity—and power, too. The show runs through May 25. Recommended!