National Public Radio just ran a story about
gun clubs trying to attract women to hunting. All I have to say is that these
men might want to think twice before arming an oppressed minority. At the very least
they ought to go see Theatre On Fire’s cautionary EXIT, PURSUED BY A BEAR (@ Charlestown
Working Theater through Oct. 26th).
When you think of revenge plays, you most
likely recall the harrowing EXTREMITIES but EXIT, PURSUED BY A BEAR is
decidedly a comedy, albeit one which addresses serious issues. Remember in
CRIMES OF THE HEART when one of the sisters shoots her husband and then makes
lemonade? Well, Lauren Gunderson writes in that vein to make EXIT’s righteous
comeuppance sweet as honey.
The sticky stuff is how Nan
plans to lure a bear to her trussed up husband, he having been beaned with a
frying pan and secured with duct tape. THE WINTER’S TALE provides Gunderson
with her title (and a character who will spirit Nan
away after the deed is done). She even meets an accomplice theatrically: “Fate
and William Shakespeare brought us together!” With a cry of “Let’s get
classical,” they begin to reenact the abusive husband’s crimes.
Nan is a naïve creature who love rabbits and
deer and chipmunks… and President Jimmy Carter. If she hadn’t married Kyle, she
says she would be “saving animals.” Marrying Kyle, it turns out, was a
colossally bad choice since he “kills things for fun.” And when he isn’t
slaughtering wildlife, he’s beating Nan. Nobody
is going to root for this guy.
Director Darren Evans and company keep the
spirit of the piece light-hearted enough so that you’re amused but sardonic
enough so that you get the message. The cast is a delight, from Mary-Liz
Murray’s daft, empowered Nan to Samantha Evans’
off-the-wall reenactor/stripper to Cameron Beaty Gosselin’s stalwart
BFF/protector to Tim Hoover’s dastardly hunter/husband.
Luke J. Sutherland’s macho set says it all,
front to back, with critters mounted on high on one wall and a deadly arsenal on
the other. Poor Nan didn’t have even one
decoration of her own to speak of. “Love and justice” is all Nan
wants. EXIT provides both niftily.
