ARTS & EVENTS

A Reality Chaser: 'Drunk Enough'

Photo courtesy C. Stanley Photography
AUDIENCE MEMBERS CAN EXPECT to experience a range of reactions
over the duration of Forum Theatre's two-man production, "Drunk Enough To Say I Love You?"

Utter bewilderment seems a logical initial response to a play in which the leading dudes portray the roles of countries -- the U.S. and Britain. The confusion continues with a dialogue that sounds like two streams of consciousness playing pingpong. A few minutes in, though, the audience gains recognition of what the hell is going on. Once the disorientation settles, "Drunk Enough" reveals itself to be a clever and scathing commentary on America's misuse of power.

In "Drunk Enough To Say I Love You?," playwright Caryl Churchill takes a harshly cynical (though largely accurate) look at America's role in the world throughout history. The two characters, Sam (or America), played by Adam Jonas Segaller, and Guy (or Britain), played by Peter Stray, are entangled in an unstable, co-dependent relationship, meant to demonstrate what happens when two powerful countries get in bed with each other. Churchill raises questions about how the rest of the world views America and what it all means for our country's future.

A foreign affairs degree and a jaded outlook on U.S. politics certainly come in handy while watching this production, directed by John Vreeke. The play isn't for everyone, naturally, as the script -- which feels a tiny bit preachy at times -- could pass as a more-poetic abbreviated compilation of Noam Chomsky lectures.

The scenes of dialogue between Sam and Guy are split up by chilling photographic slideshows, accompanied by popular American songs. Conveying bitter irony, songs such as "At Last" sung by Etta James play while images including the most frightening depictions from the Vietnam War are projected onto the stage.

Churchill's political storytelling is woven together by the roller-coaster love affair between Sam and Guy. Sam is controlling; Guy is passive-aggressive. The emotions displayed by actors Segaller and Stray allow for comic moments, bringing needed levity to the play's controversial history lesson.

» Forum Theatre, H Street Playhouse, 1365 H St. NE; through Nov. 2,
$20 ($18 for students and seniors); 202-396-2125.

Written by Express contributor Suemedha Sood
Photo courtesy C. Stanley Photography

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COMMENTS (1)

  • UM. NO. Is this about the play or is this about the performance, thereof??
    Both are flawed--the degrees of which vary. The play is a tad self-indulgent and tries to do too much. That said, Churchill creates dialogue that can be applicable to the relationship between two distinct countries as well as two persons in an intimate relations. Churchill provides text that can be manipulated and incorporated into a relationship form--making it easier to understand. The performance of the play, which was immensely and irrevocably flawed, centered on the "ping-pong" nature of the dialogue. Ping-pong, in a way that once you pinged the pong over the net --it dropped dead. The lines never connect and the actors forget the most important part of acting...act. Lines are spewed into space and fall flat. And just as the actors never connect their lines to actual thoughts--the audience never connects to the annoying sing-song nature that the play takes on.
    Perhaps the musical interruptions were interesting--but they were mostly a reprieve from the immensely painful dialogue that was occurring onstage.
    Said stage was a stationary bed that moreso resembled a coffin in which Churchill's play was laid to rest by incompetent actors. Perhaps movement was one of the additions to the play that would have helped the actors--by distracting from their performances. Unfortunately the characters are not allowed to breathe and flow. Coupled with the staccato like dialogue that is also constrained, the staging does absolutely nothing for the already doomed performance of Churchill's "Drunk Enough to Say I Love You." Despite the fact that this writer is intrigued by Churchill's work, I will never be drunk enough to see this performance again, at least by these two actors.

    By Me , Posted November 4, 2008 3:49 PM
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