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The Busy World is Hushed
By Keith Bunin
Directed by Kimberly Senior
At Next Theatre
In the Noyes Cultural Arts Center
927 Noyes Street
Evanston, IL
Call 848-475-1875, tickets $23 - $38 (senior discounts available)
Thursdays at 7:30pm
Fridays & Saturdays at 8 pm
Sundays at 2 pm
Special performances:
Monday, Sept, 24 at 7pm
Saturday, Oct. 6 & 13 at 2pm
Running time is 2 hours with intermission
Through October 14, 2007
Exquisite writing fuels this ‘thinking persons’ drama
Quotes from The Busy World is Hushed:
"The Bible is a self-contradictory, haphazardly edited compilation," Hannah admits offhandedly to Brandt.
“If you take God away, the world is no less horrible," -- Thomas
"Perhaps our souls are only forged in pain and burnished in death," Hannah says. Brandt has trouble accepting that rationale. "How can you have faith in a God who created the world just to torture everyone in it?" he wonders.
As I see it," Hannah answers, "the only logical way to explain why God permits pain to exist is that for some reason it's necessary. He's only interested in our bodies because they house our souls. And perhaps our souls are only forged in pain and burnished in death."
If God wanted me to be different, I don't know why he didn't make me that way." Hannah has an answer to that one too: "It's rather like being a parent, isn't it? You give your child all the freedom in the world, knowing full well he may use that freedom to turn away from you."
"He (Jesus) gave us this enormous gift. In his brief time here he showed us how to live a perfect life: how to love each other, how to submit to joy and pain, and how to die." --Hannah
Next Theatre, know for mounting “socially provocative, artistically adventurous work,” chose Keith Bunin’s 2006 drama The Busy World is Hushed. This is a wonderfully written play that has layers of meaning from a polemic about religion and the existence of God to a triangle of relationships including mother-son, son-father, teacher-student, son-departed father and man-to-man. The play is really a love story—love among people, love for God and love for ideas in a search for truth and the meaning of life. Filled with lively philosophical and theological discussions and debates, The Busy World is Hushed is a wonderfully marvelous fresh new play wherein all three characters speak in complete sentences and full thoughts with wit and aplomb. There is a vibrant spirit in this play.
I do appreciate hearing grand ideas that explore the internal journeys the characters take as the struggle with their doubts about their faith and the role of religion in today’s world. Playwright Keith Bunin (The Credeaux Canvas) has combined a domestic drama with a spiritual work. He has much wry humor and stinging wit utilizing a female Episcopal widowed minister/bible scholar, her wayward son and a lonely young writer.
Faith, love and loss collide as Hannah (the dynamic Peggy Roeder) hires a young academic, Brandt (Dennis Grimes) to ghostwrite her controversial book on the Gnostic Gospels. The early scene contain the intellectual side of Bunin as the minister and her doubting academic debate the possibility of faith and the challenges of pain and grief. Enter the wayward, genius son, Thomas (the charismatic Erik Hellman) and sparks fly between Brandt and Thomas. The lost boy is home to search for clues as to why his father walked into the ocean and never returned. This is a play with a gay love interest that transcends into a pursuit where each man attempts to find their soul mate.
Hannah is desperate to keep her son at home so she encourages Brandt to follow his heart and court Thomas. The three are thrown into a dynamic and complicated love triangle that struggles with questions of faith, love, honesty and manipulation. The volatile triangle is seething with the internal struggles as Brandt must deal with his dying father, his love for the wandering Thomas and his loyalty to Hannah. Thomas is searching to find his place in the world and to reconcile his relationship with his dominant mother. Hannah struggles with a slight skepticism with her faith while never completely letting go of her long dead husband. She is maneuvering to keep her wild son from self-destruction.
The Busy World is Hushed is a lush work filled complicated fully developed characters in layered relationships. The three performers—Peggy Roeder, Dennis Grimes and Erik Hellman deliver Benin’s tough dialogue in a most believable manner allowing the complex speeches to ring with authenticity. Hellman and Grimes are two of the most talented young dramatic actors in Chicago and Peggy Roeder is a peerless Chicago veteran player.
If you enjoy an idea play with wit and layered meanings, filled with truthful performances, than get to Next Theatre for Keith Benin’s excellent new drama.This young man is a fresh new voice adept at discussing complex subjects through developed characters in intelligent plots.
Highly Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: September 17, 2007
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