Brilliant Acting in Off the Wall's 'On the Beach'

A cocktail party after a nuclear war is a tricky place for simple drama, but this is precisely where Off the Wall Theatre finds itself this month. Jeremy C. Welter and Liz Mistele play a husband and wife hosting a casual get-together at their place in Australia. The fact that it happens to take place after the rest of the world has been ravaged by nuclear radiation is a slight damper on the festivities. So begins On the Beach, Dale Gutzman's stage adaptation of the classic 1957 novel by Nevil Shute.

It's difficult to adapt any novel for the stage, but one that involves an expedition by submarine to the United States to look for survivors is particularly tricky. Gutzman centers the dramatic action around the husband, who is an Australian naval officer, and his wife. This is a wise decision because, although the rest of the ensemble shows some real talent, the production's most powerful performances are shared between Welter and Mistele.

The two actors are brilliant, not only as husband and wife, but also as mother and father, desperately clinging to hope that the radiation won't wipe out life in Australia, as it is predicted to do inside a year's time. Their attempts to live a casual life in the face of the impending environmental collapse are allegorical of modern society's concerns over trivialities in the face of very real ecological problems on the near horizon. The scene between the married couple talking about poison and a painless death to avoid radiation sickness delivers an intense, powerfully dramatic moment.

Off the Wall's On the Beach runs through Sept. 25. For ticket reservations, call 414-327-3552.