|
The Distance From Here
By Neil LaBute
Directed by Jeffrey Cass
At Circle Theatre
7300 W. Madison
Forest Park, IL
Call 708-771-0700, tickets $23
Fridays & Saturdays at 8PM
Sundays at 3 Pm
Special Thursdays at 8 PM on:
December 1, 8 & 15
Running time 1 hr, 45 min with no intermission
Through December 18, 2005
“I don’t much remember you growing up…you as an individual never really made that much of an impression…”
(Darrell’s mother to him…from The Distance From Here)
Neil LaBute’s tale of unfulfilled dreams a shocker
Circle Theatre loves to mount Neil LaBute plays and they have a nice feel for what LaBute is trying to do. The Distance From Here is a disturbing, troubled work depicting the bleak and empty lives of forgotten teens. LaBute graphically illustrates the white trailer park trash with their crude inarticulate speech and pent-up body language and defiant dress. He makes us pay attention to these lost souls who had the bad luck to be born into dysfunctional families.
LaBute’s currant work, in a Midwest premiere, The Distance From Here features Tim (Jason Wisnewski) and Darrell (Garrett Matheson), two sixteen year olds who have no purpose, no passion and no dreams in their lives. They are drifting through live bored and hopeless. Darrell is wound much too tight as his rage, jealousy and frustration has him lashing out on the animals in the zoo, his friend Tim and on the assortment of easy targets for a ignorant bigot.
We meet Darrell’s young mother (Debbie Ruzicka) and her live in boyfriend, Rich (Mason Hill) whose claim to fame are the 13 ‘rag-tops’ he killed in the Gulf War. Add his half sister, Shari (Darci Nalepa) with a forever crying baby and you have a dysfunctional family ripe for a Jerry Springer episode. The constant wailing baby symbolizes the lack of parenting as the mother warns if she cuddles the infant every time it cries, it will expect her to always be their for her. Heaven forbid that a parent actually bonds with a child.
We find nothing pleasant about these losers and we wait patiently for the inevitable LaBute ‘shocker.’ We know that Darrell’s rage is seething, ready to explode as he vents his frustration due to his realization that his life has been marginalized into dead-end options. Anger, fear, jealousy fuel Darrell’s life. In his world, sex and roughhousing, smoking and foul language are the only sources of self-fulfillment and personal recognition. As hope fades for him, violence becomes easy.
When he learns his girlfriend, Jenn (Kathryn Hines) apparently had sex with a black man and when his mother tells him that he “never made much of an impression” while growing up, he explodes with a shocking act of violence. As disturbing as this play is, it is frighteningly too real. The Darrell’s of the world actually act out their frustration with astonishing cruelty. Their associates do little to stop them.
The Distance From Here, as written, is a tad too long and seems to wonder at times. The ending and final scenes are certainly a stretch of credulity but the portrait of teens drifting through life are all too real. Kudos to Garrett Matheson and Jason Wisnewski for excellent performances.
This play is disturbing, graphic and grim but unfortunately relevant. The production values here are excellent.
Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Chicago Stage Talk Radio Show
This show eligible for a C.S.T. Non-Equity Theatre Award
November 9, 2005
|
