The World Ends With a 'boom' Downstage@New Rep

boom                                                                                                                                                    by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb

Directed by Bridget Kathleen O'Leary; Jarrod Bray, scenic and properties design; Jennifer Guadagno, costume design; Chris Brusberg, lighting design; Matt Griffin, sound design; Angie Jepson, fight choreographer; Emily Page, stage manager

CAST: Zofia Gozynska, Jo; Karen MacDonald, Barbara; Scott Sweatt, Jules

Performances through March 13 at Downstage @ New Rep                                                              Box Office 617-923-8487 or www.newrep.org

boom makes light of gloom and doom in a smart, post-apocalyptic comedy set in a subterranean shelter where the last two human inhabitants of the earth must figure out a way to overcome their differences in order to mate and perpetuate the species. And, as if that isn't enough, there's an overly zealous museum docent pulling levers and flipping switches to alter or pause their actions as she explains the whole experience to us, the audience at the exhibit. That's the conceit; that Jules (Scott Sweatt) and Jo (Zofia Gozynska) are on display as relics from a cataclysmic event which took place eons ago, and Barbara (Karen MacDonald) is the volunteer guide with an obsessive passion for her job and the story that unfolds on the stage.

Artistic Associate Bridget Kathleen O'Leary directs and demonstrates that her skills and the intimate Downstage @ New Rep arena are highly suitable for the New England premiere of Peter Sinn Nachtrieb's play. In the Black Box Theater, the audience sits in close proximity to the performers and is an integral part of the production, especially when MacDonald's character breaks the fourth wall and addresses her comments to us as viewers of the spectacle. We get to take in all the small, but important details of Jarrod Bray's scenic and properties design (Jules has thought of everything in stocking his cabinets, right down to the needs of his hoped-for progeny), and the effects of Chris Brusberg's lighting design and Matt Griffin's sound design are heightened by the small space.

The playwright holds a degree in Theater and Biology from Brown University and employs both areas of expertise in his script. Jules is a marine biologist who observes atypical sleep patterns and behavior in some fish he has been studying on a remote archipelago and hypothesizes that a massive comet is hurtling toward the planet. Unable to convince his colleagues of the impending catastrophe, he takes it upon himself to preserve the human race by procreating with Jo, the Journalism undergrad who answered his deceptive ad on Craigslist for a night of meaningless sex. While she becomes Jules' not-so-willing captive in his shelter cum lab and makes over 3000 attempts to escape, Barbara stands rapt by her control panel, punctuating the scenario with the tinkle of meditation cymbals or pounding on timpani for dramatic effect.

While Jules is driven to find scientific truths and Jo has an assignment to write a story that makes her feel honest, genuine hope, Barbara's purpose is to explain the "girth" of the moment of the boom. She says, "The boom is not just about a loud noise, but a sudden, radical change in the state of things," basically outlining Nachtrieb's focus on the end of the world and starting anew. There are some veiled political undertones (even Halliburton gets a mention) about how the government responds to disasters, as well as the museum's office politics, and we are asked to examine our own preferences about wanting to know or remaining blissfully ignorant in the face of annihilation. For these misfits, it is the chance to make an impact that keeps them going.

Fresh from her intense and highly-regarded performance as Kate Keller in Arthur Miller's All My Sons at the Huntington Theatre Company, MacDonald lets her hair down and appears to be having a ball playing Barbara, the misunderstood Bohemian, Oz-like guide on this unusual ride. Sweatt and Gozynska do the heavy-lifting and physical comedy with aplomb. Kudos to fight choreographer Angie Jepson for making their battles appear realistic and fraught with the possibility of injuries. As the reality of The Situation sinks in and their time in the shelter nears the nine-month mark, Jules' and Jo's relationship deteriorates from bad to worse and the actors convey the vitriol, exhaustion, and desperation they feel. Although they do not directly interact with MacDonald, the three form a cohesive ensemble with pitch-perfect timing.

boom is performed in one 90-minute act and benefits from playing through without an intermission, yet could also benefit from some abridgement. There's a lot of time spent on disgorging scientific details, but character development is given short shrift and could go deeper to add dimensions to Jules and Jo that we have to imagine for now. Many questions remain unanswered and they may have been our ancestors...or not.

 

Photo by Rob Lorino (Scott Sweatt, Karen MacDonald)