The Happy Medium Theatre should be living Large and feeling
Ecstatic about their strong production of Christopher Shinn’s DYING CITY
(running through end of July). Shinn’s puzzling political-or is it personal
drama (inspired by 9-11 and the Bush-Cheney invasion of Iraq) follows the tortured relationship of a
soldier about to leave for Baghdad,
his unhappy therapist wife and his needy twin brother.
The action moves forward and back in time, adding more and
more negative information about the three with each scene. The trick is that
one actor portrays both brothers, a tour de force for Michael Underhill.
Kiki Samko, too, gives a powerful, emotional performance as someone suffering
unspeakable pain. Thank heaven for director Cameron Cronin who manages to
infuse the script with flashes of sardonic humor. Otherwise you’d be drawn into
the profound sadness of the piece.
When the Happy Medium folks discovered their plans to perform
Shinn’s play at the (now closed) Factory space had to be scuttled, they looked
for other digs. Samko and Underhill’s condo in Jamaica Plain, it turns out, can
accommodate an audience of twenty or so in their living room, and their open
floor plan lends itself easily to the show’s set design. With rental costs on
the rise, many theater companies may not be able to afford a traditional space
anymore. Kudos to Happy Medium for its intimate “Home-Grown” solution.
