Cape Disappointment

Written by Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen

Directed by Oliver Butler

P.S. 122

150 1st Avenue

866-811-4111

 

Review by Bryan Clark

 

Cape Disappointment is a bizarre and thrilling new play by The Debate Society at P.S. 122. The show is accurately advertised as “an intimate and absurd perspective of classic Americana.” Three unrelated road-trip stories are told: a brother and sister visit their aunt; a pair of traveling salesmen encounter a troubled mother and daughter; a man runs off with an underage girl. These plotlines seem constantly ready to merge, but the play smartly avoids this obvious choice and allows the three stories to take their own path and stand on their own legs.

 

All four of the actors play multiple roles, sometimes pulling off breathtaking costume changes. Two of them are the writers, Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen, who are The Debate Society together with director Oliver Butler. This is a true ensemble piece, and although the writing-directing trio is now on its fourth full-length play, the two new actors fit in seamlessly. Michael Cyril Creighton adds a heightened naturalism to the absurdity, and Pamela Payton-Wright brings a sophisticated skill set. Both actors’ contributions help ground the piece with performances unencumbered by the self-consciousness that hovers slightly over the onstage writers.

 

The show’s drive-in theater concept doesn’t quite fly. The opening scene, in which two characters ramble about Detroit, is disorienting and strange. According to press notes, it is meant to be the “cartoon” before the “feature” (never would have gotten that). Also touted: “Your own private 4-seater, equipped with a cooler and speaker box.” I pictured an environmental experience, but it’s traditional theater seating on risers, with coolers way at the ends of the aisles and speaker boxes that produce no sound.

 

However, Karl Allen’s set is highly effective at moving the action through the different locales, the lighting by Mike Riggs is frighteningly clever, and Nathan Leigh’s densely layered sound is precise and essential. The misfired drive-in idea is therefore no great loss, since the play, performers and production have plenty else to offer. If the authors mean to justify the play’s style by pretending it’s an old movie, they should instead be encouraged to take a more confident view of their inspired theatrical creation.