Real food is rarely consumed on stage, and pre-show speeches don鈥檛 often include an explicit instruction not to walk through the performance area afterward. Both happen and may be related in Undermain Theatre鈥檚 daring production of the absurdist Sam Shepard play Action, the former triggering the necessity for the latter.
Four disoriented people with interesting names 鈥� especially the guys, Shooter and Jeep 鈥� are holed up in a house, sitting and flailing around a table. From their nonsensical dialogue and violent outbursts, paranoia is obviously in the air. The 1974 play is said to take place in some kind of post-apocalypse, though the events that caused this gathering of mentally deranged survivors are never spelled out. They act as if they鈥檙e in danger.
Christmas lights hanging around four of the trademark columns in Undermain鈥檚 basement black box mark the season. Other than that, you鈥檙e on your own in determining time and place. Shepard was still in his Theater of the Absurd phase before turning to more grounded, if equally disturbing work like True West and Fool for Love that cemented his reputation.
Director Christina Cranshaw, Undermain鈥檚 new artistic associate, engages all of the senses, smell most pungently. The actors tear at and devour a turkey, a good portion of which winds up on the floor as their mania ramps up. The sick odors of cooked meat arrive in waves. Later, Jeep (Caleb Mosley) finds a fish at the bottom of a barrel of well water. For no apparent reason, it gets slit open, releasing fresh ripples of unholy aroma into the air.
And those aren鈥檛 the only ways in which this lively production grabs and keeps the audience鈥檚 attention. Over the course of the play鈥檚 breakneck 50 minutes, the characters synchronize their coffee drinking, tap dance and stand on their heads while making references to Fred Astaire and Walt Whitman.
Intermittently throughout the intense sprint, they pass around a thick hardbound book trying to find the page where they left off reading. It becomes an obsession. In fits of rage, Mosley repeatedly throws his chair. By the end, Shooter (Taylor Harris) is trapped under another one. At first, he doesn鈥檛 want any turkey, only to rant a few minutes later that he鈥檚 starving.
The men are clearly more far gone than the women, though Lupe (Sienna Caste帽eda Abbott) has an equally crazed stare. Meanwhile, Liza (Mikaela Baker) appears chill in comparison, though she鈥檚 the first to attack into the turkey she鈥檚 cooked for the holiday.
What makes Undermain鈥檚 Action so riveting is its unpredictability, sharply rendered. The script is a kind of stream of consciousness, like when the arrival of the turkey dinner leads to talk of cows and chickens and the men pretend to be dancing bears.
Glimmers of meaning emerge. America was going through a tough political time in the mid-鈥�70s, not unlike the present day. At one point, the characters discuss the concept of community. Jeep describes Whitman as a 鈥減assionate father bleeding for his country.鈥�
In the last part of the play, the women hang red clothing on a rotating rack above the stage. When it finally stops moving, there鈥檚 a white noose hovering over the actors. What鈥檚 the significance, beyond man鈥檚 penchant for self-destruction?
Best to enjoy the Smell-O-Vision ride and, unlike the characters, not worry. Just be careful not to step in the mess on your way out.
Details
Through Dec. 7 at 3200 Main St. $18.50-$48.50. .
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