Snowdrops

 

Dinner: Kielbasa, Beans, Jalapenos and Pineapple over Saffron Rice

 

Keegan Theatre: Hand to God

 Rarely during the course of a play unfamiliar to me do I find myself thinking -- HOLY SHIT!  This happened a couple of times during "Hand to God" by Robert Askins at Keegan Theatre.  The run ends tomorrow, but I would suggest to any local theater folks this one is worth getting the last ticket for.

In a nutshell it is a tale told by 5 actors.  A horny Lutheran Pastor, a Grieving Housewife with enough guilt to sink the Titanic all over again, her teenage son, who is pretty fucked up over the death of his father and his mother's dysfunctional life, and two other teenagers who also go to the church.  The Mother has started a puppet ministry to channel her energies with three teenage members.  One only joined in the hopes of fucking her--some wishes do come true...  But the crux of the story belongs to her son, Jasone and his puppet, Tyrone.  As the story unfolds, the place where Jasone stops and Tyrone starts becomes more and more blurred, even as the puppet becomes more and more Satanic.  The comedy is dark, the satire is ship smart, and the violence alarming and bloody!  One of the funniest moments is when two of the puppets engage in a prolonged sexual romp while the actors playing the teenagers have a mostly banal conversation of the meaning of life.  I mean, Holy Shit!  Right?

All five members of this cast were new to me.  Each displayed a dedication to their character that seemed to strengthen with the synergy found in a well oiled machine.  And yet the star was clearly Drew Sharpe as Jasone/Tyrone.  The amount of shear energy exerted in playing two characters (and one a puppet whose carefully choreographed movements nearly made you for get that it was not an autonomous member of the cast) was nearly exhausting to just watch.  It was a tour de force performance the likes of which makes theatre such an exciting proposition.

The sets were mounted as a triad on a rotating stage, and by the end the main area depicting the Church basement was pretty much trashed to hell by the devil puppet and his helpless human minion.  The show had barely ended with a well deserved standing ovation--that I initiated, I might add, when the stage crew appeared and started washing away the blood.  I didn't realize it at the time, but in the final scene when our conflicted protagonist takes a hammer to his puppet hand to "kill" the demon, some of the blood was flung so far that it spattered audience members in part of the front row.  Fortunately, my seat was row E!  

"Hand to God" was a wild ride that entertained and shocked while still making a point.  There are some things that are just more fundamental and true than religion...hand to God!  In a very deliberate choice, the press packet photos contain none of the wild or gory images to come later in the play.

Jasone (Drew Sharpe) with "un-possessed" Tyrone

Jasone and Jessica (Hannah Taylor)

The Teen Puppet Ministry in the basement of the church.

Jason with his mother, Margery (Shadia Hafiz)

Margery confronting Timmy (Jordan Brown) over his inappropriate sexual advances

Pastor Greg (Dominique Gray) making some inappropriate sexual advances of his own.