“Ultimate Things”, written by Carl Danielson. Directed by Carl Danielson and Amy Bennett-Zendzian. Presented by Unreliable Narrator, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, 949 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston through July 9.
“Which
one of these guys is Carl Danielson?” I wondered as I scanned the
audience at intermission of “Ultimate Things”, an evening of two
one-acts, or in the words of Unreliable Narrator, “Comedies About
Religion, Atheism, and the Stuff People Do With Both”. I wanted to meet
the man whose thoughts ran the gamut from Jesus to politics to guns to
self-doubt to the anti-Christ and back again, in two short and often
very funny pieces.
In
“Jesusness”, the world is disrupted when a man claiming to be Christ
descends into Washington DC from a space pod and delivers a message of
The Rapture on YouTube, as well as through all of the major news
stations. Despite witnessing Jesus turn water into wine, Peter (Nick
Bennett-Zendzian), a devout Christian and principal of a Christian
school, believes Jesus to be an imposter from outer space. His wife
Holly (Kitty Drexel) thinks otherwise, and when she takes a bus trip to
Washington to see for herself, Peter, against his better judgment, has
no choice but to follow her. I won’t give away the ending, other than
to say that Peter and Holly, against all odds, retain their Christian
convictions.
The
piece, directed by Danielson, has some very funny moments, with spot-on
political commentary from Barack Obama – whom the Christians blame for
everything – and Ted Cruz. As Peter, Nick Bennett-Zendzian is terrific,
giving an honest and nuanced performance as a man torn between his
faith and his gut. Cari Keebaugh plays military woman Beth with nice
understatement. Eva Bilick is appropriately uptight as Christian mom
Scully, and patronizingly charming as the alien Krebthar. Just when
“Jesusness” starts to get exciting – “It’s a metaphor for the blindness
of the Christian right!” I thought – it veers into silliness with a UFO
theme that was lost, at least, on this reviewer.
“Hellancholy”,
despite the considerable talents of its female lead, the engaging
Caroline Keeler as mentally unstable TV producer Maggie, is less
pointed, more amorphous, which after awhile gets tedious. To counter
writer’s block and impending depression, Maggie invites her childhood
friend Sophie (Cari Keeburgh) to spend a month at her home in Los
Angeles. Maggie is responsible for creating an HBO show about a deviant
priest, hilariously played by Nick Stevens. As someone who has strayed
from her faith, she is also haunted by God – literally, in the form of a
white-robed man (Tom Russell). Maggie does a lot of drugs, and as
someone who managed to live through the 80s, I had problems with the
verisimilitude of the coke scenes. Not only is Maggie’s coke
transported n a plastic baggie the size of four eight balls, it also
manages to have a trippy effect on Sophie. And when Maggie purchases
another hefty lunch baggy – ingesting the first would have killed her – I
was pretty incredulous. By the time that Maggie almost writes to
Sophie, “Never mix coke and alcohol” I had to wonder if I lived through
the right decade. Director Amy Bennett-Zendzian makes good use of the
space, despite one too many set changes.
“Hellencholy”
has its moments – it touches upon issues of aging and appropriateness,
and reserves of energy one no longer has. And just when you think that
you’ve had all you can take of the self-absorbed, unhappy Maggie, she
looks at the audience and says, “And if you ask me, alive is always
better than happy”. I would have to agree.
