|
Breathing Corpses
By Laura Wade
Directed by Robin Witt
At Steep Theatre
3092 N. Sheridan Road
Chicago, IL
Call 312-458-0722, tickets $18
Thursday thru Saturdays at 8 pm
Running time 90 minutes without intermission
Through March 22, 2008
Strange murder mystery at Steep Theatre
The folks at Steep Theatre always offer engaging, well acted ensemble theatre.Their Chicago debut of British playwright, Laura Wade’s Breathing Corpses is an intriguing suspenseful drama that leaves you perplexed as it suddenly ends after several disjointed scenes. It unfolds as if Wade left out 10-15 pages of her script. What I saw was well done yet I waited for the payoff that never emerged.
Breathing Corpses unfolds in England as Amy (Julia Siple), a maid at motel discovers her second dead body. In a darkly funny scene, Amy talks to the dead man. She wonders if that fate will be hers. Next, we meet Jim (Peter Moore) and his worker, Ray (Brad Akin) as they run a storage business. Elaine (Franette Liebow), Jim’s wife visits due to loneliness after her sons leave for college. All these folks are all trying to live and deal with the mundane tribulations that life throws at them, even dead bodies.
Next, we meet an uptight, angry woman, Kate (Lucy Carapetyan) suffering from the extreme heat wave in England. She is behind with her business paperwork since the police questioned her for hours after she discovered a dead woman under a bush while walking Ben’s (Jonathan Edwards) dog. This scene demonstrates how love, violence and ill-temper behavior taints a relationship. It seems these two love physicality with their sex. Each of these characters has trouble dealing with death, violence and their own morality. Jim can’t cope with finding a decaying dead body in one of the storage sheds. He can’t sleep, nor get the smell out of his noise. He can’t come to terms with this disturbing event despite Elaine and Ray’s attempts.
The final scene is a creepy one back in the motel where Amy works. I can’t say more or I’ll ruin the play. Breathing Corpses is smart, well acted but unsatisfying incomplete. You may not find it as underwritten as I did. Julie Siple, Jonathan Edwards and Alex Gillmor as terrific.
Somewhat Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: February 22, 2008
|
