PHOTO CREDIT: Sarah Harris
Playwright and actor Sam Shepard wrote The God of Hell shortly after our government’s response to 9/11. It’s a piece that’s rarely performed. But The Constructivists theater company has staged this dark comedy in a mesmerizing production that deftly balances the ironic humor with the ensuing paranoia and resulting terror. And it all takes place in Wisconsin! Really.
Frank and Emma live in the rural outreaches, raising heifers and combating isolation. That is until Frank’s “friend,” Haynes, shows up. He is mysterious and connected to secret government experiments, which is confirmed by his “static shock.” Whenever he shakes hands or even touches someone, he emits bolts of blue lightening (the special effect works well here). Is he radioactive? He certainly hijacks the lives of the unknowing couple straight into nuclear territory when the mysterious Mr. Welch shows up, spouting patriotism and American flag paraphernalia while clearly searching for the ever-mysterious Mr. Haynes.
What follows is Shepard’s commentary on a trespassing government doing whatever it wants to innocent people based on lies and deception. Sound familiar?
The God of Hell is even more timely today than when it was written in 2004. Director Jaimelyn Gray skillfully uphold the playwright’s steady descent into dark surrealism with a first-rate ensemble of four actors. The quartet shines in this 80-minute production amid the bleak Wisconsin winter and encroaching political darkness.
As the farm twosome, Frank and Emma, Robert Kennedy and Cheryl Roloff are the perfect prototype of a long-married couple, the understated taking-for-granted-ness apparent as he loves his replacement heifers and she her over-watered plants. There are both fascinating to watch, as any tiny deviation to their routine upends their constancy—marks of accomplished actors.
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As the government employee, Welch, Matthew Huebsch fully commands the stage with an image of “youthful patriotism” bursting with energy while masking malevolent intentions. And as the mysterious Mr. Haynes, Matthew Scales has the most challenging role, keeping secrets amid emotional outbursts and “static shock” until he is cornered like a barn rat with nowhere else to run and hide. This is one tight-knit ensemble with impeccable timing given the complex shadings of character.
The God of Hell is many things: dark, funny, surreal, but also “real” in its messages. Most of all, it’s an all-too-timely reminder that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Through Saturday, Oct.12, at the Underground Collaborative, 161 W. Wisconsin Ave. For more information, call 414-858-6874 or visit theconstructivists.org.
