Burn: Promising situation but problems in making it work

Burn

Written and directed by John Muggleton

Avalon Studio to Nov. 13

There’s a certain type of thriller that makes its impact by bringing in a character whose very presence generates apprehension and unease both on and off stage.

That’s the task of actress Megan Carty who is very good at cranking up the tension in John Muggleton’s new play, Burn, at the Avalon Studio.

She plays a young woman named Eve whose initial flakiness slides into something more tenacious and sinister once she starts playing mind games with a trio of literary types named Robert, Samira and David.

The latter, still recovering from the death in another city of an old friend named Paul,  have received a mysterious summons. That’s why they are together this evening, wine and other booze in plentiful supply, to await the daughter of Paul’s daughter, Eve.

So what’s it all about? It might seem we have a typical Agatha Christie situation here — but Burn has more provocative concerns in mind than such Christieland items as A Murder Has Been Announced or And Then There Were None.

When Eve makes her appearance, like some unsettling Pinteresque force of nature from outside, the very ambiguity of her motives for being there prove increasingly disturbing.

Carty, who can even inject creepiness into a knowing smile, understands her job. It’s to deliver a characterization that throws everybody’s certainties — including those of the audience — out of whack. And she largely succeeds despite a problematic script.

Her inexplicable arrival is a trigger for the past to loom up and haunt the present — to stir up painful memories of the disappearance five years before of Robert’s wife, like himself a writer of supernatural fiction. Then Eve insists on telling a ghost story — or is it a horror story? Whatever it is, the details cause further unrest within the room especially with the two men.

Suddenly the telephone rings — and that call is sufficient to turn all our presumptions about what is happening on their ear.

You don’t want to be a spoiler in talking about this play. But as a suspense playwright, Muggleton appreciates the need to orchestrate surprises. Like J.B. Priestley in An Inspector Calls and Anthony Shaffer in Sleuth, he understands the dramatic devices that can work in throwing an audience off balance.

Nevertheless, Burn, which currently runs for 90 minutes and is directed by the playwright himself, would work better as a tight one-hour play. It begins in darkness with an extended bit of audio, a tiresome cacophony of voices so prolonged that you wonder when it will end so the stage lights can come on. Then we’re subjected to tiresome chit-chat between Robert, Samira and David which suggests needless padding to make the script last longer. There’s also some exposition — necessary, but not especially adroit in execution.

A tighter script would bring Muggleton’s undeniable skills in characterization into greater relief, which in turn would heighten the psychological tension inherent in the dramatic situations he has conjured up. In brief, it’s when that phone rings that the script really starts grabbing our attention.

Megan Carty makes the show’s biggest impact as the mysterious interloper. Chris Torti manages to be both soulful and jittery as Robert, the husband still haunted by his wife’s bizarre disappearance. Tahera Mufti brings a sensible matter-of-factness to the character of Samira. Michael Thompson convinces as the ineffectual David. But all would benefit from tighter, tougher, more motivated material.

Director: John Muggleton

Lighting: David Magladry

Cast:

Eve…………………………………………………Megan Carty

Robert………………………………………………Chris Torti

Samira………………………………………………Tahera Mufti

David………………………………………………..Michael Thompson