THEATER REVIEW
“The Breakers”
Grade: C-
Through May 10. 8 p.m. Wednesdays-Fridays; 7:30 and 10 p.m. Saturdays; 7:30 p.m. Sundays; Pay What You Want Night, 8 p.m. April 20. $18. The Goat Farm Arts Center, 1200 Foster St. N.W., Atlanta. 404-523-7647, www.7stages.org.
Bottom line: Despite the intriguing concept, a dramatic mess.
Seeing isn’t always believing.
Mounted inside a large warehouse on the grounds of the Goat Farm Arts Center, designer Nick Kahler’s nifty set for the 7 Stages production of “The Breakers” is a multidimensional haunted house of sorts. Throughout the two-hour one-act drama, with only a limited number of benches available for sitting, the audience is more or less compelled to roam around the whole periphery of the two-level structure, peering in on the action from any and every angle, thanks to see-through walls of mesh or open space.
Figuratively in-your-face, the play is literally interactive, too. Milling around the “lobby” before the show, we’re initially greeted as housewarming guests by the new owners of the place, Elliot (Kevin Stillwell) and Alice (Angele Masters), a quickly disturbed married couple. Later, some of us are lured into actual scenes as potential business investors or as dancing partygoers in weird masks.
Written and directed by 7 Stages co-artistic director Michael Haverty, “The Breakers” has been billed as an erotic thriller — although it develops like a lurid melodrama, unfortunately.
Contrary to the highly stylized transparency of Kahler’s scenery, the play itself is ultimately low-down and inscrutable. The more we see, the less we may want to. For all of our theatrically contrived contact with the characters, some spectators might just as soon run to get away from them as share a glass of wine with them.
There are cryptic references to the couple’s shaky financial dealings, and a few fleeting mentions are made of the mysterious former homeowners. But Haverty mostly dwells on a lot of dubious debauchery — several drug-induced hallucinations, a violent home invasion, and an inordinate amount of sordid (simulated) sadomasochistic sex.
With a nod to Elisabeth Cooper (who’s credited as the show’s technical director), two large screens above the set occasionally display live feeds of the house’s high-tech surveillance system. At various other times, they project prerecorded flashbacks or dream sequences (filmed by Nick Hiltgen, animated by Bryan Fordney).
For her part, lighting designer Katie McCreary’s finest touch sheds startling color on a scene in a redwood forest. The kinky costumes are by Erik Teague.
As if thrown in, just because, a bit involving Alice on suspension wires falls flat (or did on opening night, at least). Otherwise, Masters performs the role in a brooding blur. Stillwell fares better as Elliot, possibly due to having already portrayed a similarly fetishistic character in Synchronicity’s “Lasso of Truth” last season.
Not surprisingly, given Haverty’s long association with the Center for Puppetry Arts, one of the cooler moments here depicts a perilous encounter with a two-headed dragon, puppeteered by a number of “personal assistants” in the play (including Emma Yarbrough, Nick Surbey, Markell Williams and Michael Morgan), who also take turns filling in as glorified ushers, guiding the audience from one side of the house to another, as need be.
In the end, that “The Breakers” may be unlike anything else you’ve ever seen before doesn’t necessarily make it very easy or satisfying to watch.
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