Long time readers may recall that The Whale starring Brendan Fraser was the second most annoying movie I have seen. (The most annoying movie I have ever seen is still The Mummy starring Brendan Fraser.) A Bright New Boise, staged by the Misplaced Theatre Company at Bristol's bijou Alma Tavern theatre is the work of American playwright Samuel D Hunter, who perpetrated the play which The Whale was based on. They are recognisably similar works: the same tight theatrical construction; the same interest in lower-middle class characters with complicated hinterlands; the same preoccupations with small millennial Christian sects; and the same Idaho setting. (Both The Whale and A Bright New Boise avoid using the word “Mormon” but Idaho has the largest concentration of Latter Day Saints outside of Utah.) Like The Whale it all takes place in a single a room. Unlike The Whale, we are are looking at a very small theatrical space, as opposed to a very large movie screen, so the constraint does not feel artificial. Five character's backstories gradually reveal themselves as the play unwinds, without ever quite coming to a resolution.
The character are consistently interesting and they do not necessarily follow the expected arcs. Alex is a non-communicative teen with permanent ear-buds: but what he is listening to is avant-garde Brazilian classical music. Pauline may swear continuously, but she’s a darn good manager who is very good at conflict resolution. Of which she has to do quite a bit before the play is over. And Leroy but is kind and understanding with his foster brother, who suffers panic attacks and constantly threatens suicide.
And throughout the performance, as a surreal twist, the company’s internal TV station is showing. It consists of the same two guy endlessly plugging the same products. When someone eventually puts the sound on, we find out that the sales pitch is complete gibberish: they don't seem even to do what they are promoting. From time, the feed breaks down and the TV starts showing graphic medical demonstrations of ear wax and cataract removal. I suspect there of being some symbolism going on here.
We stop short of a neat resolution: if anything the play ends before Will makes his big decision. But we have seen all the relationships play out: we understand why Will joined the Sect and why he left it, and why he put Alex up for adoption and why he regrets it, and what the pastor went to prison for, which isn’t necessarily what you might think a pastor might have gone to prison for in this kind of play. There is a lot of acting; the extended rant in which Pauline takes control of the situation is rather breath taking, particularly in such a small space.
I haven’t seen a copy of the text so I don’t know what was mandated by the playwright and what was decided the producer. Clearly, the author of The Whale is not always entirely subtle. But I do wonder whether a less shouty climax would have produced a more coherent evening. Alex has an angsty speech about the pointlessness of everything: he will either succeed at college and be a moderately successful musician. or he will fail and spend the rest of his life in retail, but those are the only ways his life can go. This is to be contrasted with Will’s sudden exposition of the Rapture (which he believes he can initiate if he prays hard enough). What he envisages is the removal of the current world and its replacement with something purer and more beautiful: the Bright New Boise of the title. So the intention may be to show that Will’s beliefs are a very understandable reaction to the inadequacies of life in a consumer art supply outlet?
We are in the staff break room of a branch of Hobby Lobby. (Hobby Lobby is a real, Christian-run company art supplies company which has allegedly pursued anti-gay and anti-birth control policies: this isn't relevant to the plot, particularly, although it plays into the theme.) Diffident, tongue tied Will (Tyler Landry) is having a final interview with loud, brash, sweary Pauline (Jaleelah Galbraith), and having taken the job, gets establishing scenes with the three other main characters.
Will and Anna (Maya Hingorani) hide in the store after close (really?) because they have nowhere else to spend their evenings. Anna likes to read and Will is a writer: I wish ladies shouted "no way!" and "that's so cool!" at me when I admit I have a blog. Leroy (Rhys Myhill) wears teeshirts that say "Fuck!" and worse, which he regards as a kind of personal art. (Pauline makes him go onto the shop floor with nothing on under his tabard.) But the play hinge Will blurts out early in their meeting that he is Alex’s biological father, who gave him up for an adoption as a baby: Leroy turns out to be his foster brother. (The characters' relative ages is initially a little off-putting, but I quickly got used to it.) Will has in fact taken on the job in order to re-establish contact with his son. And we learn early on that Will has been involved with One Of Those Religious Sects, the pastor of which is in prison as the result of an initially unspecified scandal.
The character are consistently interesting and they do not necessarily follow the expected arcs. Alex is a non-communicative teen with permanent ear-buds: but what he is listening to is avant-garde Brazilian classical music. Pauline may swear continuously, but she’s a darn good manager who is very good at conflict resolution. Of which she has to do quite a bit before the play is over. And Leroy but is kind and understanding with his foster brother, who suffers panic attacks and constantly threatens suicide.
And throughout the performance, as a surreal twist, the company’s internal TV station is showing. It consists of the same two guy endlessly plugging the same products. When someone eventually puts the sound on, we find out that the sales pitch is complete gibberish: they don't seem even to do what they are promoting. From time, the feed breaks down and the TV starts showing graphic medical demonstrations of ear wax and cataract removal. I suspect there of being some symbolism going on here.
We stop short of a neat resolution: if anything the play ends before Will makes his big decision. But we have seen all the relationships play out: we understand why Will joined the Sect and why he left it, and why he put Alex up for adoption and why he regrets it, and what the pastor went to prison for, which isn’t necessarily what you might think a pastor might have gone to prison for in this kind of play. There is a lot of acting; the extended rant in which Pauline takes control of the situation is rather breath taking, particularly in such a small space.
But as was the case with The Whale I didn't entirely buy it.
Will is presented for two thirds of the play as an essentially nice or normal guy, despite obviously carrying some Baggage. He has left his fundamentalist sect, but he still believes in God; and we learn that he is writing what sounds like an okay book about the Rapture. Now, possibly Church works differently over there to how it does over here. I think that the English treat the Church of England as an old-fashioned, obsolescent social society that most respectable citizens used to have some sort of relationship with; and other denominations and faith-groups as essentially ethnicities. “She’s catholic” or “He’s a Quaker” are data-points along the lines of “she’s from Barcelona” or “he’s gluten intolerant.” It is very hard to think of someone in England saying “I believe in God and Jesus and everything” early on in a conversion — unless they were a very annoying Jehovah Witness or Evangelical — and we have very definite attitudes to those.
I think that perhaps in the USA, actual God and Faith are more within the social Overton Window: something that it would be slightly more normal to "just talk about". We gradually realise that Will has a strong belief in God, and some niche theories about the Second Coming, but for the first two thirds of the play, this isn't what defines his identity. As a character he is more “about” his relationship with his son.
As everything gets more and more overwrought, Anna suggests that Will attend her mother’s Lutheran church. This does, indeed, appear to be the sensible solution: if you’ve quit fundamentalism but not theism, then a mainline denomination is the direction to go. Her suggestions results in him ranting about liberals and the rapture and the second coming and literally holding her against a wall. Which disappointed me. I had thought I was looking at a quite nuanced portrayal of a character with odd religious views, but it turns out that he's a ranty hellfire and brimstone nutjob, like all religious characters in the media are.
Will is presented for two thirds of the play as an essentially nice or normal guy, despite obviously carrying some Baggage. He has left his fundamentalist sect, but he still believes in God; and we learn that he is writing what sounds like an okay book about the Rapture. Now, possibly Church works differently over there to how it does over here. I think that the English treat the Church of England as an old-fashioned, obsolescent social society that most respectable citizens used to have some sort of relationship with; and other denominations and faith-groups as essentially ethnicities. “She’s catholic” or “He’s a Quaker” are data-points along the lines of “she’s from Barcelona” or “he’s gluten intolerant.” It is very hard to think of someone in England saying “I believe in God and Jesus and everything” early on in a conversion — unless they were a very annoying Jehovah Witness or Evangelical — and we have very definite attitudes to those.
I think that perhaps in the USA, actual God and Faith are more within the social Overton Window: something that it would be slightly more normal to "just talk about". We gradually realise that Will has a strong belief in God, and some niche theories about the Second Coming, but for the first two thirds of the play, this isn't what defines his identity. As a character he is more “about” his relationship with his son.
As everything gets more and more overwrought, Anna suggests that Will attend her mother’s Lutheran church. This does, indeed, appear to be the sensible solution: if you’ve quit fundamentalism but not theism, then a mainline denomination is the direction to go. Her suggestions results in him ranting about liberals and the rapture and the second coming and literally holding her against a wall. Which disappointed me. I had thought I was looking at a quite nuanced portrayal of a character with odd religious views, but it turns out that he's a ranty hellfire and brimstone nutjob, like all religious characters in the media are.
I haven’t seen a copy of the text so I don’t know what was mandated by the playwright and what was decided the producer. Clearly, the author of The Whale is not always entirely subtle. But I do wonder whether a less shouty climax would have produced a more coherent evening. Alex has an angsty speech about the pointlessness of everything: he will either succeed at college and be a moderately successful musician. or he will fail and spend the rest of his life in retail, but those are the only ways his life can go. This is to be contrasted with Will’s sudden exposition of the Rapture (which he believes he can initiate if he prays hard enough). What he envisages is the removal of the current world and its replacement with something purer and more beautiful: the Bright New Boise of the title. So the intention may be to show that Will’s beliefs are a very understandable reaction to the inadequacies of life in a consumer art supply outlet?
I have no complaints about Misplaced Theatre's production. (They are the same company that did the thematically not dissimilar Doubt last year.) And it's a much better play than the nonsense about the fat guy whose daughter loves Moby Dick. If I had to put my finger on the problem, I think I would say "These characters seem to be the kinds of characters you would meet in a play by this playwright; as opposed to the kinds of people you might meet in the real world." But they are sufficiently interesting on their own terms that if another local group who can confidently do American accents were to stage another one of his works, I'd definitely give it a look.
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