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Quills
By Doug Wright
Directed by Scott McKinsey
Produced by Shadowmen Chicago
At Trap Door Theatre
1655 W. Cortland
Chicago, IL
www.shadowmenchicago.com , tickets $16
Thursdays thru Saturdays at 8 pm
Running time 2 hours, 25 minutes with intermission
Through November 1, 2008
Gritty drama about perversion, sexual boundaries, and sadism essentially works
Kudos to the newbies at Shadowmen Chicago for mounting the powerful “Quills” by Doug Wright. This gritty psychological horror story is nicely staged, well acted and effectively eerie. This is a violent work containing nudity, sexuality explicit language and imagery. It deals with the depravity of the notorious 19th Century French writer Marquis de Sade—know for both his actions and writings about sado-masochism and explicit sexual acts, became the enemy of proper French society during the conservative time of Napoleon in the early 1800’s. His pornographic writings stimulated his readers with their details and provocative settings. The Marquis (Errol McLendon) fought censorship all his life.
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“Quills” is set in 1807 at Charenton Asylum where the Marquis is locked up but flourishing with the luxury of wine, pen and paper enough to keep the prolific pornographer satisfied. When the Marquis’ wife, Renee de Montreuil (Jhenai Mootz) complains to the new asylum director Doctor Royer-Collard (John Arthur Lewis) that the Marquis’ writing continues to be the source of her ridicule, they come to a financial arrangement whereby the Doctor gets funding and the wife gets relief from scorn. The priest Abbe de Coulmier (Marco Minichiello) is in charge of the Marquis’ treatment. The priest uses kindness and compassion towards the Marquis but when he refuses to stop writing his sexually explicit stories, the priest attempts to stop him with a series of lost privileges and amenities. First he takes away pen, ink and paper. But the Marquis keeps writing using blood and bed sheets. The priest tries to reason with the psychopathic genius and compulsive writer. The Marquis feels he ‘must’ write in order to live.
The priest is trying to both save the world from the Marquis’ pornographic writing and save the Marquis’ soul. This becomes a struggle of good versus evil for both men’s souls. The priest and the Doctor eventually do evil, even sadistic acts to stop the sadio-masochistic from writing. This cleverly plotted story contains several intelligent exchanges between the Marquis and the priest on the nature of personal expression, censorship and the moral effects of writing on the reader. We do see both sides and, although we see the extreme depravity of the Marquis, we empathize for his free spirited intellectual freedom. The increasingly harsh actions taken to stop him from writing seem to transfer the depravity from the Marquis to the priest and the doctor. The cruelty shown to the Marquis is bloody and barbaric. The staging of these evils acts and the intense response by the Marquis are chilling.
Errol McLendon appears mostly completely nude as the Marquis de Sade. McLendon is terrific as the insane Marquis as he exudes the savagery and sensuality of the madman. He articulates the Marquis’ storytelling genius nicely and he exhibits the rawness of the human body completely. Nice work here. I also admired the nuanced work of Marco Minichiello as the priest. He communicated the troubled priest’s struggles with his demons while trying to curb the Marquis.
“Quills” is a worthy show for those who like powerful drama with strong horror elements. This is a polished and effectively acted show. Doug Wright is a talented playwright. Scott McKinsey’s direction and staging keep the tension mounting. The Shadowmen Chicago theatre troupe is a welcome addition to the Chicago storefront theatre scene.
Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: October 17, 2008
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