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Proving Mr. Jennings
By James Walker
Directed by G. J. Cederquist
At The Actor’s Workshop Theatre
1044 W. Bryn Mawr
Chicago, IL
Call 773-728-7529, tickets $25
Thursday through Saturday at 8 PM
Sunday at 3 PM
Additional Sunday performance at 7 PM September 3
Running time is 2 hours with intermission
Through September 3, 2006
Wry British satire pokes fun at our responses to the terrorism threat.
Young playwright James Walker sure has the British sensibilities on writing biting politically-incorrect satire. He leaves no holds bared and takes no prisoners with his hilarious cautionary tale of government hysteria gone amuck. In the US Premiere, Proving Mr. Jennings (King’s Cross New Writing Award, 2004) is a dark comedy that satirizes the nature of governmental responses to the threat of terrorism. We find Mr. Jennings (Damian Arnold) checking into a British hospital for a heart transplant. He is seduced by the voluptuous Nurse Davids (Julie Griffith) who wants to test his organs before the surgeons. These scenes are a hoot. 
Jennings wakes up from his surgery to find himself accused of being a suicide bomber since the doctors found a time bomb in his chest instead of a heart. In a series of interrogations, interviews and tortures, Jennings starts to wonder what’s happening to him. Agent Psmith (Brian Parry in exquisite comic form) is the bumbling anti-terrorist intelligence agent who uses every means, including electric shook treatment to get Jennings to confess. Military leader, Colonel Loveday (Dan McNamara) uses the ‘good-guy’ technique to coax Jennings into signing a confession. He is the stuffy British professional soldier bent on good manners.
Through splendidly wicked dialogue filled with a mixture of outrageously funny situations and bureaucratic blindness, Proving Mr. Jennings is, indeed, an over-the-top satire but all too possible in this post-modern age of high anxiety. Once the bureaucracy accepts a truth, it sticks to it no matter what the facts are. Jennings must be guilty because he has a bomb inside him. Period. The investigators look for facts to agree with their premise. He must be guilty, he has to be guilty. The hysteria and the need to be ‘right’ allow the government investigators little choice.
Playwright James Walker finds a workable balance between wicked lampoonery and paranoia to expose the possible injustice of terrorist investigations. The play unfolds as a funny mystery where we just know that eventually Jennings will prevail. Or will he? Damian Arnold does fine work going from indignation to hysteria as the frustrated British gentleman facing possible death from a time bomb. Nice work here.
Playwright Walker offers a splendid scene near the end when Sylvie (Lauren N. Goode), the matter-of-fact wife who offers little comfort to Jennings in his plight. She coldly accepts Jennings’ demise. This sharply stinging play is funny in a sick sort of way since it highlights possible governmental intrusion that threatens our liberties. The suspense adds to the humor and the ending is hilarious and surprising. James Walker is a writer worth noting. Proving Mr. Jennings is a late summer treat.
Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: August 9, 2006
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